Valve and Microsoft have come to an agreement to waive the Havok Engine fee which will make modding games like Team Fortress 2 and Half-Life: Alyx easier.
In a tweet from @TF2CCWiki - who reached out to Valve to ask about getting an asset license for the Havok physics engine, which usually costs $50,000 - Valve has said that it has reached an agreement with Microsoft - who currently owns the engine - to waive the $50k fee on future mods, making it easier for fans to mod Team Fortress 2 as well as Valve’s other titles.
Good news for the various TF2 mods. Got in touch with Valve over getting a dev repo asset license and was told they will be waiving the $50,000 Havok physics engine license cost for mods after reaching an agreement with Microsoft. #tf2 #teamfortress2 pic.twitter.com/O2QO3EOg6HNovember 13, 2021
The official response from Valve reads: "We reached an agreement with Microsoft to have Havok fees waived for future mods of Valve games. With that being said, we see the main purpose of mods to act as non-commercial fan projects." @TF2CCWiki isn’t the only person to get this response either, as @Gocnak - project and development lead on the Momentum Mod - also got the same response from Steam’s EU Legal Review team.
The initial Twitter user then put out a follow-up tweet explaining that the Havok license fee is only for "paid-for mods." Adding that all of the Team Fortress 2 mods are not paid for, so this doesn’t actually affect them. However, it is still good news for those who want to mod Valve’s other titles without having to take a $50k loan out to cover it.
It appears many developers are loosening the reins on fan-made projects as Genshin Impact developer miHoYo, who also recently announced that it is allowing its fans to create and sell fan-made products without the risk of legal action, as long as you don't contravene miHoYo's rules.
Looking for something to play after Team Fortress 2? Take a look at our list of the best FPS games for inspiration.
