Valve is the company behind some of the best-known names in gaming from the last decade and even before that, including titles like “Half-Life”, “Team Fortress 2”, “Counter-Strike”, and most recently, “Dota”. The studio is well-known for buying out popular projects and helping them grow into full-featured commercial games, “Portal” being another well-known example.
But they also have a particular angle to their development which has served them very well so far – they always like to borrow features from their own games and implement them in other titles. In fact, the studio has made this a large part of their standard development model in recent times. For example, they used “Team Fortress 2” as a test bed for several features that eventually made their way to “Dota 2” and other games, such as the advanced replay system, coaching, and more.
Lately, players of “Counter-Strike” have been wondering if the title could be improved with the help of “Dota 2” a little bit, as the action-strategy game has recently received various interesting features that could improve the shooter quite a lot. “The International”, a major worldwide tournament that unites all players of the game and gives them various exciting rewards, is something that could easily be implemented in “Counter-Strike” with similar success, for example.
“Dota 2” also has its own in-game Fantasy League, allowing players to play a metagame related to the competitive scene of the title. This is also something that would fit right into the style of “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive”, according to many players.
Should “CS” also be made free-to-play? This is a highly controversial topic in the game’s community, and while some players are convinced that it’s the next logical step in the game’s evolution, others don’t want this to happen. The biggest problem, according to some players, is that making the game free could open up the door to exploits and cheating, something which is already a somewhat prevalent problem in “Counter-Strike”. The opposing argument is that “Dota 2” doesn’t suffer from cheaters in any significant way, but then again, the game’s gameplay style isn’t that suitable for the development of cheats in the first place.
In the end, Valve are still actively developing both titles and it remains to be seen if they will borrow anything from “Dota 2” and carry it over to “Counter-Strike”. There is a strong possibility that this will eventually happen though, especially as “CS” continues to prove its earning potential. The game is the best-known competitive shooter in the world, and it can easily make millions of players watch its tournaments. We’ll likely see it remain active for a long time, and Valve would be smart to keep supporting the game with new content.