TF2 contest winners rake in the cash

If you run into Shaylyn Hamm, Shawn Spetch, Steven Skidmore, Spencer Kern or Rob Laro this week, drinks are on them.

The five pocketed between $USD39,000 to $USD47,000 each in royalty payments after virtual items they created went on sale to the Team Fortress 2 masses.

Gamasutra reports the modders were winners of a competition for the right to feature their creations in Team Fortress 2.

The five individuals took a 25% cut of the revenue made by selling "their" items. The only hitch in the process came when it was time to pay:

Valve said it was going to deposit the royalties in the modders' PayPal accounts, but the revenue from the sales was so high that it exceeded some of the service's limits on deposit size. Valve flew Kern and Skidmore to the developer's Kirkland, WA headquarters to give them the payments in person.

One of the interesting stats the Gama article brings up is the proportion of Valve's workforce taken from the gaming community. Gabe Newell puts it at roughly 50%.

The really good news for the five? The cash they received was payment only for the first two weeks of the items being on sale.