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[b]Analyst Pegs Team Fortress 2 Hat Economy at $50 Million[/b]
[url=http://kotaku.com/5869032/why-zyngas-first-day-on-wall-street-went-to-shittyville]Done with that Zynga story?[/url] Thought that was all the economics you were getting today? Nope. While he's not recommending investor action, writer Paul Manwaring did some number crunching and conservatively valued Team Fortress 2's unique items economy at, oh, about $50 million.
Now, that's not $50 million in real money that Valve has either made, or has been invested by gamers into a system and is floating around loose somewhere. Hats and unique items are found by unlocking crates, crates are unlocked with keys, and keys can be acquired for free, basically at the equivalence of 18 dropped weapons to one key. (They may also be bought for actual money, too.) This is a valuation, nothing more.
Manwaring examined the statistics kept (and made public) for TF2 and, long story short, finds that a community of 30,000 concurrent players each day in TF2 on Steam is injecting $1.54 million worth of "refined metal" into this virtual economy each week. Refined metal is what creates a key. Since the hat economy began in May 2009, Manwaring estimates that "we can be confident in a minimum figure of $52.7 million," as its valuation, "without even taking into account weapons bought in the store, promotional items and more. The true figure is probably double this."
I highly recommend you read Manwaring's entire post. Again, it's not money in Valve's bank account. But it is another way to characterize the enthusiasm and time investment Team Fortress 2's dedicated players sink into the game.
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[url=http://kotaku.com/5869042/analyst-pegs-team-fortress-2-hat-economy-at-50-million]Source[/url]
holy shit
This is exactly why I stopped playing TF2. It went from a game to an economy in one update.
On the bright side though, all my cosmetic hats and weapons got me quite a few steam games.
I like how valve turned literally nothing into money.
I mean seriously, 1 hat is like 200 bytes of data, and they can sell some of them for ~20€ .
This is basicly money printing.
"Refined metal is what creates a key"
What?
[QUOTE=LoLWaT?;33804681]If my hats are worth steam games i'm reinstalling TF2[/QUOTE]
You have some shit that is worth something. For example your DXHR stuff is worth quite I lot last time I heard.
[QUOTE=LoLWaT?;33804681]If my hats are worth steam games i'm reinstalling TF2[/QUOTE]
Only if they're new ones. Old ones? [B]Worthles[/B].
I gave away all my hats, should have sold them really.
so how do i check how much the hard hat is worth
Gabe Newell for president! He obviously knows something about an economy.
And hats started out as just some some bonus items Valve added for fun, funny how this ended up. I still find the game fun, but I can see why others would get sick of it.
people are already getting screwed by capitalism in real-life, do they have to get screwed by capitalism in TF2 as well?
If only this worked for the real life economy, i think i'd be high sailing right now with one of the Raiders of the lost ark original fedora's on display in my room :D
It will go down in history as an incredible study of simulated economics.
I hope they open source the data they collect at the end.
[QUOTE=mobrockers2;33804750]You have some shit that is worth something. For example your DXHR stuff is worth quite I lot last time I heard.[/QUOTE]
How much is my Bill's hat worth in games?
[QUOTE=The mouse;33805177]How much is my Bill's hat worth in games?[/QUOTE]
Nothing.
People who say that TF2 is nothing but hats go to some really shitty servers.
[QUOTE=The golden;33805213]I have a bunch of old vintage weapons. Where would I go to sell those for Steam games?[/QUOTE]
Nowhere, it's hatfortress, not weaponfortress.
[QUOTE=usaokay;33804839]The day my backpack will be worth $10,000 is the day I also have sex with Olivia Wilde. Point is that the economy will soon go down when cosmetic ideas run out and unusuals will become easier to obtain just like hats in the beginning.[/QUOTE]
Thing is, they wont.
You have a 1 in 100 chance of finding an unusual, given the fact that compared to the overall playerbase of TF2, hardly anyone buys keys. Alongside this small chance theres a huge combination of unusuals/effects.
It has been a year and there are still not many unusuals in the system, by the time there are more, they will probably have added something rarer.
I hate people complaining about how hats changed tf2 and that now the game is all about hats. It's still the same game at the core, but with cosmetic items.
So this is why I get random chats with people wanting my hats?
[QUOTE=ForgottenKane;33804618]Hats and unique items are found by unlocking crates, crates are unlocked with keys, and keys can be acquired for free, basically at the equivalence of 18 dropped weapons to one key. (They may also be bought for actual money, too.) [/QUOTE]
uhhhhh
Someone bought me gold member and a title for a low tier unusual hat.
I also traded a pair of buds for GTA Complete Pack plus Terraria.
I still have an unusual that is worth around 200, so if I really wanted a game, I could get it essentially for free.
Why do people pay so much for worthless junk?
[QUOTE=Wootman;33805684]Why do people pay so much for worthless junk?[/QUOTE]
Because people are fucking retarded.
I've made around $600 by selling my stuff. A friend of mine has been reselling real hats on Ebay for the last five months, and has made $150 for his efforts. I find this hilariously ironic.
[QUOTE=Wootman;33805684]Why do people pay so much for worthless junk?[/QUOTE]
Same reason people pay hilariously large amounts of money for baseball/trading cards.
"Hurr, its rare"
Whoa.. and the thanks goes to who?
[editline]20th December 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=CanadianBill;33804673]"Refined metal is what creates a key"
What?[/QUOTE]
You are picking it out of the context you silly
They're virtual hats guys c'mon! How can you resist? HATS!
Team Fortress 2 is still one of the most kicass games ever made...
Even if it does have a messed up hat-conomy.
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