10 Iconic Video Games You Almost Lost To Development Hell
5. Team Fortress 2
Beginning life as a Quake mod in 1998, the project evolved into a full official release after the original developers were picked up by Valve to work on the game full time. However, at this point the idea for TF2 was wildly different to what it ended up becoming, originally set to be a realistic military shooter under the subtitle Brothers in Arms. This version of the game was shown off for the next two years until 2000, where it was suddenly delayed, indefinitely. Even worse, the development team went silent after the news, with nothing coming out of the studio for the next six years. At this point, the sudden silence and the fact Valve would always dodge questions about the title left many fans to believe Team Fortress 2 would never actually see the light of day. Fortunately the project was re-announced in 2006 with a vastly overhauled cartoon art-style; a far cry from the realistic aesthetic showcased back in 99. Finally, in 2007, almost 10 years after the game began development, Team Fortress 2 was released as both a standalone Steam title and as part of Valves Orange Box collection, going on to become one of the most successful multiplayer games of all time.
