Valve introduced support for Free-to-Play games yesterday with the release of five F2P games: Spiral Knights, Forsaken Worlds, Champions Online: Free for All, Global Agenda: Free Agent, and Alliance of Valliant Arms or AVA.

Beginning tomorrow (Weds) with Spiral Knights and concluding Sunday with AVA, each of the five launch titles will offer exclusive in-game content to those who try the “F2P game of the day” on Steam.  In game transactions in all of the titles will be supported by Steam’s micro-transaction backend system that is available to Steamworks partners and currently used in Valve’s Team Fortress 2.

“The introduction of Free to Play games is another example of the constant evolution of Steam,” said Jason Holtman, director of business development at Valve. “Free to Play games offer new game genres and game experiences for customers, while offering developers and publishers new revenue opportunities and the ability to reach customers in areas of the world where the traditional packaged goods model is less popular than F2P.”

Specific details on the F2P games of the day and their exclusive in-game content will be made available in the coming days.

 And there you have it! The current F2P of the day is Spiral Knights, a MMO action RPG with a funky graphic style and some pretty enjoyable gameplay. Playing the game and accepting an in-game mission from Saxton Hale will get you an in-game achievement and the Spiral Sallet hat in TF2.

As a TF2 promotion-related reminder, Kritzkast is offering the Lo-Fi Longwave hat in TF2. If you were a member of the official Kritzkast Steam Group prior to Episode #121, recorded on the 12th of June, you are eligible to participate in the Kritzkast Quiz. Getting at least 4 out of the 5 randomly-selected questions correct will get you the aforementioned Lo-Fi Longwave hat, in Vintage quality. Failed the quiz because your Kritzkast knowledge ain’t up to snuff? Just try again 24 hours later and you will get another shot at scoring the loot.

And there’s also been a whole bunch of game-related promotions. Something about Magicka, something about the new Red Faction – it’s crazy. Moving along – be sure to keep an eye on the Steam Store for the next F2P game of the day.

http://store.steampowered.com/news/5657