Dec 9, 2018 - Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), has gone free-to-play this. Players are angry that the existing problem of cheating will get much. Download Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO). Updated and refined version of the classic First-Person shooter computer game from Valve Software.
Credit: ValveDespite Valve having multiple successful free to play games, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) is the one that has always remained a paid title. That is until now, as Valve is releasing a free version of the shooter that will allow anyone to play offline against bots and watch professional matches.
If you head over to the Steam store and install CS:GO – Free, you will have access to a limited version of CS:GO. You will not be able to play any online matches, or connect to any public servers, which is obviously the only real way of playing CS:GO. However, you will be able to enter into a private server with bots, allowing you to either warm up your aim, test out the game or just have a few rounds of fun shooting some bots in the face.
Arguably the more interesting part of this is that anyone can now watch professional CS:GO matches in game, which allows them more control over what they see. When watching in GOTV, the in game viewing client, viewers will be able to view whatever player they choose, instead of having to watch the directed camera from the official streams.
Chances are this won’t have too much of an impact on the viewing figures for the upcoming FACEIT Major in London, which will be the first tournament users of CS:GO – Free will be able to watch on their new free client. However, it does give an extra option to those who want to watch the action with more control but for some reason don’t own CS:GO already.
This new client should also act as kind of a demo. Being able to jump into a bot match should mean that you can see if your PC will be able to run it, and even if you think you will like it, without having to put down some money first. It is also unknown if this version will allow you to play matches via LAN, which would technically be offline. If that is possible then this build could make organising grassroots LAN events much easier.
Adding a very limited free version of CS:GO is quite a strange move, many have said Valve should just make CS:GO free to play anyway, as they make a lot of money off in game skins and microtransactions. But adding this version that doesn’t even allow you to experience the main part of CS:GO, playing matches against other people online, seems to offer little to anyone interested in the game itself.
'>Despite Valve having multiple successful free to play games, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) is the one that has always remained a paid title. That is until now, as Valve is releasing a free version of the shooter that will allow anyone to play offline against bots and watch professional matches.
If you head over to the Steam store and install CS:GO – Free, you will have access to a limited version of CS:GO. You will not be able to play any online matches, or connect to any public servers, which is obviously the only real way of playing CS:GO. However, you will be able to enter into a private server with bots, allowing you to either warm up your aim, test out the game or just have a few rounds of fun shooting some bots in the face.
Arguably the more interesting part of this is that anyone can now watch professional CS:GO matches in game, which allows them more control over what they see. When watching in GOTV, the in game viewing client, viewers will be able to view whatever player they choose, instead of having to watch the directed camera from the official streams.
Chances are this won’t have too much of an impact on the viewing figures for the upcoming FACEIT Major in London, which will be the first tournament users of CS:GO – Free will be able to watch on their new free client. However, it does give an extra option to those who want to watch the action with more control but for some reason don’t own CS:GO already.
This new client should also act as kind of a demo. Being able to jump into a bot match should mean that you can see if your PC will be able to run it, and even if you think you will like it, without having to put down some money first. It is also unknown if this version will allow you to play matches via LAN, which would technically be offline. If that is possible then this build could make organising grassroots LAN events much easier.
Adding a very limited free version of CS:GO is quite a strange move, many have said Valve should just make CS:GO free to play anyway, as they make a lot of money off in game skins and microtransactions. But adding this version that doesn’t even allow you to experience the main part of CS:GO, playing matches against other people online, seems to offer little to anyone interested in the game itself.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s finally making the free-to-play pivot, ditching the $15 barrier to entry it’s maintained since release in 2012. Starting today you can head over to Steam and grab the full game, including multiplayer modes, for free—though you can still pay $15 for “Prime” status and earn some extra skins.
It seems like an obvious move to keep Counter-Strike competitive in the modern era, what with the rise of the battle royale genre. CS:GO is even getting its own take on the phenomenon, called CS:GO Danger Zone, an 18-player battle royale(ish) mode that involves scrounging for supplies and money around the map. Timing that release with the move to free-to-play could convince an entire new generation of Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds players to give Counter-Strike a shot...maybe.
But is that a good move for Counter-Strike and the people who love it? A few years ago Valve wouldn’t even let players gift CS:GO during the Steam Sale, saying it would harm the community by introducing people who didn’t stick around long-term. Rumor has it the $15 price tag was also kept up so long to dissuade cheaters from circumventing a ban by simply making a new Steam account.
Both those worries still seem justified—hell, a pro Counter-Strike player was caught cheating during a tournament this year. And a move to free-to-play is bound to generate a large influx of players who have never played before and won’t stick around to learn the ins and outs of a brutally difficult game. Valve mitigates this somewhat by putting “Prime” players into their own segregated multiplayer hopper, meaning most longtime fans will be unaffected by the free-to-play move, but it’s still going to affect the game’s community.
Of course, it also gets people installing Steam—and maybe that’s the goal here. Valve’s seemed a bit besieged the last few months, and even more so after the announcement of the Epic Games Store earlier this week. Maintaining a library of games you can only play with Steam is one way to keep players hooked, and it’s far easier to sneak onto someone’s hard drive with free games than paid.
And besides, CS:GO’s been built like a free-to-play game for years. It even had an entire (shady) gambling scene built around trading CS:GO weapon skins based on their real-world money value. Removing the $15 price tag just underlines the business model Valve’s already relied on since 2013.
In any case, it’s free and you can grab it now. If you’ve never played Counter-Strike before, be prepared to die a lot, and often. But hey, at least now you don’t have to pay for the privilege.
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