Classic Offensive: Valve Has Stopped Development of the Popular Counter-Strike Mod! [VIDEO]

General news News PC PC News 05/10/2025

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Even though modders had been working on it for eight (!!!) years, Valve probably didn’t like the fact that a quality competitor was taking shape…

Classic Offensive, a mod for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive that removed microtransactions, was initially approved by Valve eight years ago. However, after years of silence, Gabe Newell’s team recently threatened legal action if development wasn’t halted. In response, the Classic Offensive team issued a public statement detailing what happened.

“After eight years of development, and despite being officially greenlit by Valve in 2017, we are devastated to announce the cancellation of Classic Offensive. This decision follows abrupt actions by Valve that prevent us from releasing or continuing development on the project…”

The developers explained that their build was submitted to Valve for review in October 2024, only to be rejected in January 2025 with a generic “not a good fit” response. As they prepared to release it on ModDB, Valve issued a cease-and-desist notice, citing that Classic Offensive was considered “derivative content” based on Valve IP, making it incompatible with the Steam Subscriber Agreement.

Valve’s current policy seems to allow modding only in very limited circumstances: via Steam Workshop, for active Valve games, or under specific licensing and SDK terms. This marks a major shift from the company’s previously mod-friendly stance, impacting titles like Counter-Strike, Left 4 Dead, Portal, and Day of Defeat.

“This situation goes far beyond our project and raises serious questions about the future of modding in Valve’s ecosystem. Modders should reconsider their view of a company that profits from community creativity but can abruptly terminate years of effort, even after following all defined processes…” the statement reads.

For transparency, the team launched classic-offensive.net, which includes a detailed timeline, FAQ, credits, and media showcasing their work over the years.

https://t.co/d0RMvuK9jo #AllowClassicOffensive pic.twitter.com/Qz3bHg1a9E

— Classic Offensive (@csco_dev) May 7, 2025

Source: WCCFTech, Classic-Offensive

Angyal Anikó

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