Team Fortress 2 Classified · published
Hello! Welcome to the first Team Fortress 2 Classified blog post.
As most of you pieced together quickly, Valve requested a few months ago that we rename our mod, because the name Team Fortress 2 Classic was too similar to their Team Fortress Classic. We had hoped that we could throw up a quick teaser on our Steam store page while we chose a name and did some restructuring, but the whole process has taken longer than expected. I'll be explaining the full story of what's happened over the past few months, and why we have decided to push the release date of the mod to January 30th, 2026. When we submitted our demo for Steam Next Fest, the review process was held up on IP rights. This was expected, and it had already happened to our main app, so we contacted Valve to get it cleared up. Upon doing so, we were met with the request to rename our mod. We've learned that various other mods have recently used the word 'classic' in ways that unintentionally made them look like official Valve products, and as a result, Valve had a new policy put in place back in September. Despite allowing it previously, Valve's policy on mods having demos has also since changed, meaning we couldn't have launched our demo regardless. Since we could not launch a demo, we instead focused our time on ensuring that a rebrand was done properly. Actually deciding on a new name was surprisingly difficult. For one, it quickly became apparent that few options actually embodied what we set out to do better than 'classic' had. Despite disagreements over what 'classic' means, it has historically been a great way for us to set a standard for our mod's design, and has allowed us to maintain coherency between eras of development. Additionally, we needed to make sure that it could not mistaken for a new mod, including keeping the acronym (if possible). When we first "announced" our rebrand, Classified was not seriously considered as a name. Many other names were proposed and pitted against each other (some of which you can spot in the teaser video). As we pitched more, Classified began to indisputably win out. Not only is it remarkably similar in terms of phonetics, but it also serves as a double entendre, with 'classify' both evoking "to make something classic" and its literal definition, leaning us further into the spy film theming that early TF2 had carried. Classified documents, beige folders, and a slightly more serious tone: it all just fit what we were going for. Most importantly, it just passed the vibe check. It took a while to get approved. Gray areas in the name policy meant we were unsure if Classified was allowed. During conversations with Valve, we were unable to get a name confirmed outside of submitting a game build for Steamworks review. Those reviews can take up to several weeks each time, and we could not fully commit to creating new promotional material until a name was confirmed. This meant that the rebrand process took a few months, which has changed our release plans. Despite us moving as fast as we can to reach the previous vague 2025 release date, we're simply not able to meet it. There's a few reasons for this. The first is that we want a few more weeks of polishing and extensive testing. The second and more important reason is that Steamworks review is a factor that we cannot control. Communication can be slow and inconsistent, and we need padding in our timeline to ensure there are no last minute delays. We want this game to be out as much as you do, but we only have one chance to make a first impression, and we need to do it right. Besides, it wouldn't be an authentic TF2 experience without a bit of Valve time. Thank you for being patient, and see you on January 30th, 2026, ~ Nito & the Team Fortress 2 Classified team