Team Fortress 2 Classic – a mod that sets out to offer a new TF2 experience but with the "original inspirations and tone" of Valve's FPS original – has been pushed back to January 2026, as the devs also confirm it'll be releasing under a new name when it arrives.
In a new post on Steam, gameplay lead Nito and the mod team at Eminoma officially introduce Team Fortress 2 Classified – removing one letter and adding four more in a move that should satisfy an apparent request from Valve. "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," the statement reads.
"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 30, 2026."
Furthermore, they add, "the review process was held up on IP rights" when the devs submitted their demo for Steam Next Fest. Although this was "expected" since Eminoma had already seen the same thing happen "to our main app," upon contacting Valve "to get it cleared up," the team was "met with the request to rename our mod."
The statement continues: "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."
As for choosing a new name, the devs found it "surprisingly difficult" – but Classified ended up being a solid alternative. "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."
Even after the new name was decided upon, however, "it took a while to get approved," with "gray areas in the name policy" leaving Eminoma unsure if Classified would be permitted in the first place. There was apparently no way to get confirmation outside of submitting a build of the game for Steamworks review – a process which "can take up to several weeks each time." As such, rebranding "took a few months, which has changed our release plans."
And that brings us to the delay. "Despite us moving as fast as we can to reach the previous vague 2025 release date, we're simply not able to meet it," the statement confirms. This is partially to give the team "a few more weeks of polishing and extensive testing," but also – more importantly – "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."
The team at Eminoma "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."
As for what fans can expect, Team Fortress 2 Classified's Steam page states that "we've added quality-of-life features, remade and reworked scrapped content, and built onto it with full-size updates in homage to TF2's timeless style and tone." There's a whole new class – the Civilian – TF2 pre-release-inspired weapons, new game modes, and more.
