Hey everyone,
This is just a quick announcement to let everyone know that we will be shutting down the CTE (Community Test Environment) app in the next 48 hours.
Although it has helped us with broader playtesting in the past, the concept of a separate app generates too much player confusion that can't really be worked around. As an example, it is impossible to simply shut down the CTE app when not in use (prompting many new players to ask which app they should play), and something as simple as putting up any kind of notice (e.g. to let players know if CTE is in use or not) requires Valve personnel to do it.
In addition, we noticed that the vast majority of players would immediately migrate to CTE once a new test version was released, leaving the main install mostly deserted — which rendered the benefit of having two separate apps that players could alternate between null. Many players also had issues with app visibility, and so on.
As a result, future playtesting will be done using the (relatively) new Steam Playtest (which works much like a separate app, but without the issues we were having with CTE) or simply via a separate Beta branch of the main app, usually accessed via password. We will be looking into both of these options before making a decision, and possibly trying them both out.
So if you notice GROUND BRANCH CTE dropping from your library, don't panic! We're just trying to make playtesting more straightforward in the future.
Thanks for reading!