Esports Wizard

CS:GO Becomes Free to Play, Battle Royale Mode Coming

Valve are pushing their award-winning franchise, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) in a slightly different direction. Having achieved a staggering global recognition over the past decade, CS:GO is now free to play, and it will feature a battle royale mode.

Counter-Strike GOes Free to Play, Adds Battle Royale

On December 6, Valve broke the news. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) was to become a free to play game. Woe is those of us who had actually spent money purchasing the game. The announcement stirred quite a bit of excitement with paying players lashing out in over 14,000 negative reviews while others welcomed the move and were soon seen playing the game in its entirety online.

Valve are actively seeking to re-establish a vibrant in-game player base, with the monthly user count dropping to sub-300,000 users as of April, 2018, a far cry from the nearly half a million playing in 2015.

As to the changes, understandably, not everyone is thrilled, specifically because all that existing users will get for having bought the game is a “loyalty badge”. While the move is not entirely popular, it seems to be a necessary ground-breaking change that the company has been planning for a while.

New CS:GO players will receive access to all game modes, matchmaking, and a limited set of item drops and weapon cases.

The company additionally confirmed the release of their own battle royale game, “Danger Zone,” advertised as a mode for the game. In a sense, this plays well with the known history of the game, which began as a modification of Half-Life and progressed to a stand-alone title with millions of people playing or having heard of the game.

Moving forward, players will be allowed to achieve a “prime status”, which will enable them to obtain a number of goodies, including “prime-exclusive souvenir items, item drops, and weapon cases.” To achieve the distinction, individuals will have to reach Rank 21 or pay $14.99, the current price tag of the game.

The announcement of the battle royale mode was equally significant as it signals that Valve wants to adapt to the fast-changing world of competitive gaming by offering adequate products. While CS:GO remains one of the defining esports games out there, others, such as Fortnite and Battle Royale are quickly gaining popularity while still offering competitive formats, or in the very least – the investment to host such events.

Danger Zone is a fast-paced battle royale game mode built on CS:GO’s tactical gameplay where players use their wits, skill, and resources to fight to the finish.

Even giants such as Activision/Blizzard have acknowledged the mounting competition from this new breed of shooters, enough to motivate the company to roll-out its own Call of Duty battle royale. Apparently, companies are becoming cognizant of the challenges poised by the innovative and visually-appealing products that share the simplicity of gameplay while providing for a depth of the experience.

Meanwhile, Valve could have broken the news to the community in a more considerate manner, but even then, CS:GO is likely to register a further downturn in its users base despite the negativity that has been swirling around in the past several days.

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CS:GO Becomes Free to Play, Battle Royale Mode Coming
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Valve has officially made the award-winning CS:GO a free to play game. The company is now planning a battle royale mode.
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Esports Wizard
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