CS:GO fan remake Classic Offensive gets cease and desist notice from Valve, preventing release

After eight years of development, the team behind Classic Offensive has announced the cancellation of their Counter-Strike: Global Offensive mod following a cease and desist notice from Valve. The project, which aimed to recreate the feel of classic Counter-Strike within the CS engine, was shut down just hours before its planned release.

Classic Offensive began development in 2015 and was officially Greenlit by Valve in 2017, receiving over 118,000 positive votes on the Steam platform. The mod team spent years creating custom models, maps, and gameplay features that captured the essence of Counter-Strike 1.6 while maintaining modern stability.

“Despite being officially Greenlit by Valve in 2017, we are devastated to announce the cancellation of Classic Offensive,” the development team stated in their announcement. “This decision follows abrupt actions by Valve that prevent us from releasing or continuing development on the project.”

According to the team, they submitted their build for review in October 2024, only to have it unexpectedly rejected in January 2025 with a generic response stating it was “not a good fit,” disregarding their prior Greenlight status. When the team prepared to release via ModDB instead, they received the cease and desist notification from Valve just hours before launch.

Valve clarified that releasing Classic Offensive would constitute distributing “derivative content” based on their intellectual property, which violates the Steam Subscriber Agreement. The company has outlined strict conditions for modding, which effectively prohibits community-driven Source mods that have been integral to Valve’s ecosystem for decades.

“This position stands in stark contrast to Valve’s own Greenlight approval of Classic Offensive, their historical tolerance of extensive modding communities, and the previous three decades of modding tradition that shaped many of their successful games,” the developers noted.

Naturally, many community members have expressed disappointment. Some even noted the irony that Counter-Strike itself began as a Half-Life mod before being acquired by Valve. “Modders should reconsider how they see Valve: a company that benefits from community creativity while being able to shut down years of work without warning,” the Classic Offensive team warned in their statement.

That said, the team has launched a website, classic-offensive.net, which provides a detailed timeline of events, FAQs, and media showcasing eight years of development work. Some even got their hands on it ahead of the release, like YouTuber Anomaly. Check out their video below:

According to Valve’s current stance, modding is now only allowed under very narrow conditions: skins and maps published through Steam Workshop for currently active Valve games, maps developed using Valve Hammer Editor, original non-commercial games created with Source SDK 2013, mods based on Half-Life 2 or Team Fortress 2 within defined guidelines, or projects with explicit licensing from Valve.

The Classic Offensive team believes this interpretation effectively prohibits community-driven Source mods for Counter-Strike, Left 4 Dead, Portal, and Day of Defeat that could only be distributed outside of Steam and its Workshop.

Looking ahead, the team pointed to CS, a free Counter-Strike remake on Source SDK 2013 with original content, as a potential alternative that might meet Valve’s requirements. Whatever the case, this news will definitely disappoint fans who’ve been waiting years for Classic Offensive to go live. Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.