Valve has officially pulled the plug on Classic Offensive, a fan-made mod for CS:GO that aimed to bring back the gameplay of Counter-Strike 1.6. The team behind the project announced the end of development on their official page on X, explaining that Valve revoked permission just as they were preparing for a full release.

The mod had been in development for over eight years, with a demo available since 2017. Back then, the creators got the green light from Valve through the Steam Greenlight system, and the company even offered support. But when the developers submitted a new request in 2025 to launch the game officially on Steam, Valve suddenly denied it—this time without any explanation and stopped responding to messages.

After that setback, the modders decided to release Classic Offensive on ModDB. But on launch day, they received a takedown notice from Valve, citing intellectual property violations. The company demanded the mod be removed immediately or face legal action.

The devs also shared details about Valve’s current rules: fan content is only allowed under strict conditions. You can make skins and maps for active games, create maps with Hammer Editor, or use Source SDK 2013—as long as you avoid using Valve characters or franchises. Full mods like Classic Offensive are now off-limits unless you have a special license. The team warned other modders to be careful when working with Valve’s IPs.

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