Half-Life mod Black Mesa to sell on Steam at a ‘relatively low price’

Black Mesa, a Half-Life mod that was officially approved on Steam Greenlight in September 2012, is launching on Steam soon "for a relatively low price."

It probably sounds odd to make players pay for a mod — or even weirder to see Steam-owner Valve allowing developers to sell a mod of one of its own games, Half-Life — but Black Mesa's developers aren't looking to ditch the free version. They could just use a little extra support.

"Our decision to sell Black Mesa rests on two key points," the team wrote. "One is we believe we can make the game even better by having full access to the Source engine. This lets us tackle and fix limitations instead of working around them. The second is because frankly, our team could really use the financial help."

After the Steam release, the developers plan to introduce an entirely new free version and open-source maps and game assets to the rest of the modding community.

"Purchasing the Steam version of Black Mesa is more about supporting the team and our efforts than anything else," they wrote. "However, the Steam version will include features that the free version simply can not have. We will be paying careful attention to feedback, and you'll have a very real say in how the final game turns out."

The upcoming expansion, Xen, which concludes the game, "is still a ways off," according to the developers.

"Until Xen is completed, we have multiple interesting additions planned for the Steam version of Black Mesa, which we will announce later on down the road."

Via: Joystiq