Team Fortress leak found in Dota 2 update

Last year, Valve dataminers discovered references to a new project labeled 'TF'. Given the initials, it's widely believed to be a new Team Fortress project – although whether it's a sequel or a Source 2 port of TF2 remains unclear.

There hasn't been much information on the game in the past few months, likely due to the changing timeline surrounding the upcoming Steam Machine launch. Valve expert Tyler McVicker also speculated that the game “might have stopped momentarily” as development on HLX – widely considered Half-Life 3 – ramped up. However, a new string was recently found in a Dota 2 update, indicating that development continues.

“Mention of Project TF appeared in reference to composite material near CS2, which presumably means it will be used for skin,” noted leaker and dataminer Gabe Follower explained.

Don't worry too much about the Source 2 jargon — Gabe Follower is referring to the highly sophisticated asset pipeline that serves as the framework for Counter-Strike 2's cosmetics. With that in mind, as seen in the post below, the presence of 'tf' alongside 'csgo' indicates that Valve is building a similar live-services ecosystem for this new Team Fortress game.

Project TF to half-life 3

Otherwise, we still don't know much about Project TF, or how far along the game is in development. At least, it doesn't look like it's been saved, but Valve's slow attitude and high bar for quality means that games are often canceled or pushed back as teams move on to new ideas, so it's still likely to happen in the future. However, it's worth considering that all of Valve's recent launches have been leaked in similar fashion: Alyx first appeared as 'HLVR', while Deadlock was exposed by dataminers under the codenames Neon Prime and Citadel, when it was still being conceived as a Half-Life spin-off.

Dataminers have not only found references to Project TF in this update. Follower Gabe also spotted another 'HLX' mention, confirming his claim earlier this week that Half-Life 3 was not cancelled. Several leaks claimed last year that the sequel would be announced in November, but for whatever reason, those plans changed. Given the trail left in Valve's wake by the canceled Half-Life 3 and Episode Three games, some were concerned that the lack of a reveal meant 'HLX' would suffer the same fate. However, between the reassurances of Gabe Follower and McVicker, and the new string found in this Dota 2 update, it seems to be chewing behind the scenes.