Valve reportedly rejects Counter-Strike mod made over eight years time

Valve has reportedly shut down the Steam launch of a Counter-Strike mod that took eight years to make. On January 11, 2025, the developers of the mod in question, Classic Offensive, took to their official X page to notify the fans that its release had been blocked by Steam, which falls under Valve's umbrella. This unfortunate incident came as a shock to the team, which promised to adhere to all Steam guidelines.

Furthermore, the team elaborated that Valve did not interrupt the team while it was developing the mod. This has left the developers even more puzzled and lost.

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Valve blocks Steam release of Classic Offensive, a Counter-Strike mod nearly eight years in the making

Classic Offensive is a Counter-Strike mod that bridges the gap between CS:GO and Counter-Strike 1.6 as it aims to bring back the classic feeling of the original game to the relatively newer title. The developers shared that they have been working on this mod for just about eight years now. This would be almost a decade before the release of Counter-Strike 2, the newest title in the series.

According to the team, Steamworks had previously requested that they finish the mod before submitting it for full release. Now that it has been completed, the team has been left with an unfortunate automated response from Steam:

“Since we submitted our build to Steamworks, we’ve received an automated Steam Support message about having retired our app without any reason explained. This is devastating as we’ve worked on the project for almost eight years now.”

In 2017, the team delivered Classic Offensive to Steam Greenlight, a program by Valve that allowed developers to propose a game idea to potential players who would then vote on it to decide its fate. The legal guidelines had also been respected and adhered to. Regardless, it appears Valve has ultimately decided against the release of the Counter-Strike mod.

The Classic Offensive team has promised to approach Valve employees to explore their future options. As of the time of writing, the fate of Classic Offensive hangs in a balance.