Counter-Strike: Global Offensive becomes free to play and adds a battle royale mode

[Greg S]

A hot potato: Battle royale is by far the most defining game mode of the year, and Valve is looking capture back some of the audience that Epic Games has taken away. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is the latest game to implement Battle Royale.

After launching in August of 2012, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has continued to remain a popular eSports title. Valve has introduced a major update to CS:GO bringing a battle royale mode into the game called Danger Zone.

On top of adding battle royale combat, the game is also now free to play. Now that it is completely free, it is at least worth trying out. So as not to upset those that have already purchased CS:GO, Valve has added a souvenir skin that can be earned with relative ease by playing the new Danger Zone mode. Additionally, original owners will receive Prime match making status so as to avoid playing with new accounts that are more likely to be ban evaders or less than stellar community members.

Deploying into the Danger Zone is slightly different than Fortnite's flying bus. Instead, players select a spawn location and fast rope in from helicopters. There is a timer in place that forces players to pick a location reasonably quickly, but one of the caveats is that other players are able to see where you have chosen to spawn immediately as your selection is made.

When starting out, characters are equipped with a map and their bare hands. Players must run around to collect cash, tools, and weapons just as in other battle royale games. Certain crates require tools to open.

Valve has decided to allow gamers to play solo, in duos, or on teams of three. Feedback is still being taken into consideration on some aspects of team gameplay. Matches entered as a solo player have 16 people, while team matches have up to 18 players.

Considering the new mode just launched, it is far too soon to draw any conclusions about whether it will turn out to be a success or not. With over 200,000 concurrent players at any given time, there is a significant following already. A peak of over 450,000 players was reached within the last 24 hours partly thanks to the newest update.

Looking to try it out for yourself? Head on over to the Steam Store and grab CS:GO for free.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/77753-counter-strike-global-offensive-becomes-free-play-adds.html

 

[QuantumPhysics]

I'd definitely rather play this Battle Royale than CoD.

 

[PcePce]

This is a well-made Battle Royale mode, not just something they threw together. It's weird having this attached to CS:GO instead of being its own game, but I'm not complaining.

 

[Evernessince]

I'd definitely rather play this Battle Royale than CoD.

It should be given the base game is much more balanced and doesn't have the issues COD has.

 

[Puiu]

I haven't had cheater issues in past few months.

 

[2kenny]

This mode seems nice but several Radeon GPU users are reporting crashes.
Myself with an old notebook and a Radeon HD370m can´t even play 10 minutes of it when it suddenly crashes.
Also, the framerates are much lower (15-25 fps) instead of my usual (40-60 fps) during the old gamemodes, running always at minimum settings at minimum resolution fullscreen.
People with high end AMD gpu-based systems are complaining about crashes too.

 

[2kenny]

This mode seems nice but several Radeon GPU users are reporting crashes.
Myself with an old notebook and a Radeon HD370m can´t even play 10 minutes of it when it suddenly crashes.
Also, the framerates are much lower (15-25 fps) instead of my usual (40-60 fps) during the old gamemodes, running always at minimum settings at minimum resolution fullscreen.
People with high end AMD gpu-based systems are complaining about crashes too.

**Radeon HD6370m**

 

[stewi0001]

This mode seems nice but several Radeon GPU users are reporting crashes.
Myself with an old notebook and a Radeon HD370m can´t even play 10 minutes of it when it suddenly crashes.
Also, the framerates are much lower (15-25 fps) instead of my usual (40-60 fps) during the old gamemodes, running always at minimum settings at minimum resolution fullscreen.
People with high end AMD gpu-based systems are complaining about crashes too.

**Radeon HD6370m**

you could have just edited the original post ;P

 

[senketsu]

Danger Zone LOL, been watching too much Archer

 

[Adhmuz]

This mode seems nice but several Radeon GPU users are reporting crashes.
Myself with an old notebook and a Radeon HD370m can´t even play 10 minutes of it when it suddenly crashes.
Also, the framerates are much lower (15-25 fps) instead of my usual (40-60 fps) during the old gamemodes, running always at minimum settings at minimum resolution fullscreen.
People with high end AMD gpu-based systems are complaining about crashes too.

I can only assume the open world nature is a little more taxing than the regular modes CS:GO has to offer, also more players are on the map, just more happening in general. This doesn't mean the game should crash, but I would look at heat being a possible factor or running out of memory somewhere. Check these two things and one might be the source of your problems.

 

[DZillaXx]

This mode seems nice but several Radeon GPU users are reporting crashes.
Myself with an old notebook and a Radeon HD370m can´t even play 10 minutes of it when it suddenly crashes.
Also, the framerates are much lower (15-25 fps) instead of my usual (40-60 fps) during the old gamemodes, running always at minimum settings at minimum resolution fullscreen.
People with high end AMD gpu-based systems are complaining about crashes too.

**Radeon HD6370m**

You know they don't make drivers for that decade old graphics card right?....

How about getting something from this era? The Intel Graphics on newer laptops have more power than that thing.

 

[Kibaruk]

Nice, this sounds mighty interesting, I'm finally going to get to play CSGO, was not sure of getting it as the CS saga has been an old one for me but if it's free, why not.

This mode seems nice but several Radeon GPU users are reporting crashes.
Myself with an old notebook and a Radeon HD370m can´t even play 10 minutes of it when it suddenly crashes.
Also, the framerates are much lower (15-25 fps) instead of my usual (40-60 fps) during the old gamemodes, running always at minimum settings at minimum resolution fullscreen.
People with high end AMD gpu-based systems are complaining about crashes too.

I'm just guessing here, but it seems like it might be an issue with larger maps, new items, increased rendering and whatnot.

 

[Draconian]

"Matches entered as a solo player have 16 people, while team matches have up to 18 players."

Why so low? Doesn't CS:GO support up to 64 players in a match?