From Team Fortress Wiki

“ — Gray Mann ( Ring of Fired Hale's maze of shell companies ends here ... ”

This is a list of companies that can be found in Team Fortress 2. Most of these are presumed to be sub-fronts for the intelligence agencies behind Reliable Excavation Demolition and Builders League United. These companies are identified largely through signs or logos on maps, but some are identified through signs, text, and dialog or other content provided for the game, especially the comics and update webpages and videos.

The inclusion of commercial signs in maps serves several purposes. By referencing graphic corporate art styles of the first seven decades of the 20th Century, the signs help establish the game's ambiance; a few signs are direct references to real business signs that could be seen in the Sixties. The signs are also used to help establish the theme of the maps, e.g., mining company signs on a mine themed map. Signs with BLU Team Tendency signs tend to use relatively modern and industrial styles, while signs with RED Team Tendency tend to have more antique, rural, or rustic styles. A few signs like "Gray Gravel Co." or "Auto-Borax" refer to the Storyline or tease updates. The company or product names on the signs are also used to make jokes, puns, and references, including references to names of game developers and historical artists that influenced the game.

"Properties" are the maps where signs for the company appear on major properties that the company possesses or operates; however, some companies have no properties on the present official maps, but appear in-game or in promotional Movies or Comics as "Signage only" (ellipses [...] indicate intentionally incomplete lists). "Team tendency" is the team that the company tends to lean towards in building style or map location; the coloration helping players to orient on the map.



