PC Gamer’s Ted Litchfield expressed hope in January that there could be room for Valve to rethink its rejection of Classic Offensive, an eight-years-in-the-making mod for Counter Strike: Global Offensive that goals to recreate the expertise of Counter-Strike 1.6. And it is a good day for Ted, as a result of an replace posted immediately on X says Valve has made contact with the group over its “considerations” the mod could violate Steam tips.
Classic Offensive mod group chief ZooL had been experimenting with Counter-Strike mods way back to 2015: We first reported on Classic Offensive in 2016, and it was authorized by Steam’s defunct Greenlight program in 2017.
Work has been persevering with since, with the purpose of taking the sport again to one thing extra akin to the GoldSrc period of Counter-Strike, sexed up with fashionable facilities and stripped of the load of cosmetics and microtransactions that dominate CS:GO in its present type.
All appeared properly till January 2025, eight years after our first story about it, when the group submitted its construct to Steamworks—and it was rejected with out rationalization by way of “an automatic Steam assist message.” The group mentioned they did not know why the construct was rejected, and insisted they’d adopted Valve’s laws and proposals “to the letter.”
“Nobody at Valve advised us to cease doing what we have been doing throughout all these years, no kind of formal request, but this appears like an excellent worse type of cease-and-desist at this level. Many folks at Valve are conscious of our and lots of different initiatives, but have refused to speak since late 2020.”
It all sounds very very similar to Valve—algorithms and automation ruling the day—however that automation additionally left open the chance that perhaps issues could possibly be fastened if solely the mod group may discuss to an actual individual, which they mentioned they’d proceed attempting to do. It took a pair months, however lo and behold, they did.
“We have been contacted by Valve this morning,” the Classic Offensive dev group mentioned in a brand new message shared on X. “They have reached out to us with considerations that our mod could not be compliant with their tips and the Steam Subscriber Agreement. In mild of those considerations, we’re auditing the present construct of the mod to make sure nothing is in violation of these tips.”
So it is not fairly we’re again, however it’s we’re speaking, and that is a giant step in the precise path. There’s nonetheless an opportunity Valve will shoot the entire thing down, however the newly-opened line of communication means there’s not less than a possibility to determine issues out first: Determine how the mod violates Steam’s tips, and what might be completed about it. Maybe nothing—it is doable the algorithms have been proper, and the entire thing is irretrievably sunk—however perhaps one thing, too.
There have not been any additional updates on both X or the Classic Offensive Discord since immediately’s message was posted, so there is no timeline for a way lengthy this audit may take. But there’s hope that the Classic Offensive mod will see the sunshine someday, and that is much more than we had.
