CS: GO game became free

Battle mode "all against all" Danger Zone . An illustration from the official Counter-Strike blog

Since its release in 2012, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has always sold for $ 15, which was a tangible barrier for CS fans. Finally, Valve lifted this restriction . From today on Steam you can get the full version of the game for free , including multiplayer modes. The game moves to a new model of monetization. Now for $ 14.99 sold the status of Prime, for which they give exclusive items and weapons design.

Obviously, this decision was made by developers as an attempt to keep Counter-Strike competitive in the modern era, especially considering the popularity of Fortnite, which broke all profitability records . Despite its free status, it brings publishers more than $ 300 million per month . According to this indicator, Fortnite overtook Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, DOTA 2, World of Warcraft, World of Tanks and many other popular games, including paid ones.

In addition to the transition to free mode, CS: GO has a new Danger Zone mode, analogous to the popular Battle Royale mode in Fortnite, where 100 players disembark on the island and enter the battle “all against all” one by one or in teams of four, or 50 on 50. In the battle of teams, you can invite your friends to the team. In the case of a game of 50 by 50, the island is divided into two halves: from the very beginning, you can either land on your own half, or behind enemy lines (the “kamikaze” mode). Every day and every week, players are offered new tasks for which bonus points are awarded: they are given exclusive artifacts (movements, emotions, costumes, parachutes) and v-bucks, for which you can buy even more exclusive artifacts. A seasonal combat pass with a set of exclusives costs 950 v-bucks, or about $ 10.
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Danger Zone in CS: GO works for 16-18 players. All of them get on one card on which supplies and money are scattered. Each round lasts about 10 minutes. You can play either in individual mode on a map with 16 players or teams of 2-3 people on a map with 18 players.



Commentators believe that this is significant progress. A few years ago, Valve did not even allow players to give CS: GO, bought on a Steam sale. She believed that it was “harming the community”, allegedly involving people who were not interested in playing in the long run. Rumor has it that the price tag of $ 15 held so long as to resist the cheaters. Previously, dishonest players risked getting a ban for a few days, weeks, or life, which could not be challenged. In the latter case, the player lost $ 15, for which he bought the game on Steam. With a free license, nothing prevents the cheater from starting a new account, so cheating can be more common.

Both of these reasons - the involvement of disinterested players and the threat of cheating - remain relevant, especially the latter. What can I say, if recently this year even a professional Counter-Strike player was caught cheating ! And the transition to a free model will inevitably cause a large influx of players who have never played before. Many of them, instead of persistently mastering the secrets of a tough and difficult game, will choose a simple cheat approach. All this will not please regular players.

In order to make some safety against the threat of total cheating, in Prime mode, Valve gives the possibility of a separate multiplayer mode only for paid players. Thus, here the paid mode is more designed for the old and dedicated audience, which has already paid for the license.

You can also note that by making free its most popular game, Valve has another goal: this way it promotes the Steam platform, which will now be installed by more users.

Recently, Valve is experiencing some pressure, especially after the announcement of the Epic Games Store game store earlier this week. Obviously, promoting Steam to the computers of new users is much easier with free games than paid ones.

Among other things, many elements of the free model have been used in CS: GO for a long time. It’s no secret that in the market you can buy and sell CS: GO weapon skins for real money. So the transition to the officially free model simply underlines the business model that has developed de facto.