Release Notes for 2/12/2014

[]
- Added the CZ75-Auto as a new stock pistol that is a loadout alternative to the P250. Its stats are identical to the P250's with the exception of being fully automatic and having only two magazines.
http://blog.counter-strike.net/index.php/2014/02/8644/

[]
- Introducing the CS:GO Weapon Case #3, comprised entirely of pistol finishes, including finishes for the new CZ75-Auto.


[]
- Weapon adjustments based on data collected:
-- Increased Aug recoil
-- Reduced Aug rate of fire
-- Reduced Aug and Sg553 scoped run speeds
-- Increased Desert Eagle accuracy recovery by 2.5%
- Improved scope visuals for Aug and Sg553.
- Aug now has a new firing sound.
- Pressing the walk key while running now properly decelerates your speed to walking instead of instantly capping it.
- Fixed regression that broke environment fog not being reduced when zoomed with a scoped weapon.

[]
- Added text filter to loadout.
- Added peel animation when player cycles position.
- Fixed enemies on the square radar not rotating to match their view.
- Fixed teammate colors sometimes shuffling on some panels when a player disconnected in Competitive Mode.
- Crosshair style 2 (Classic) has been changed to accurately show weapon accuracy.
- Added some ConVars to be used with crosshairstyle 2 (Classic) to allow users to further customize how they want it to display. (cl_crosshair_dynamic_splitdist, cl_crosshair_dynamic_splitalpha_innermod, cl_crosshair_dynamic_splitalpha_outermod, cl_crosshair_dynamic_maxdist_splitratio)


[]
- Overpass
-- Improved visibility.
-- Removed small cover on CT side of Bombsite B.
-- Drastically reduced the number of trashcans.
-- Widened tunnel near T spawn.
-- Widened lower door in park connector.
-- Widened corridor near CT sniper room.

[]
- Fixes to improve game stability during startup.
- Added diagnostic info to debug video config reset.
- Fixed dedicated server to write steam_appid.txt
- Fixed several game server memory leaks.
- Fixed a bug causing certain workshop maps to re-download every time the game is launched.

Release Notes for 2/12/2014

[]
- Added the CZ75-Auto as a new stock pistol that is a loadout alternative to the P250. Its stats are identical to the P250's with the exception of being fully automatic and having only two magazines.
http://blog.counter-strike.net/index.php/2014/02/8644/

[]
- Introducing the CS:GO Weapon Case #3, comprised entirely of pistol finishes, including finishes for the new CZ75-Auto.


[]
- Weapon adjustments based on data collected:
-- Increased Aug recoil
-- Reduced Aug rate of fire
-- Reduced Aug and Sg553 scoped run speeds
-- Increased Desert Eagle accuracy recovery by 2.5%
- Improved scope visuals for Aug and Sg553.
- Aug now has a new firing sound.
- Pressing the walk key while running now properly decelerates your speed to walking instead of instantly capping it.
- Fixed regression that broke environment fog not being reduced when zoomed with a scoped weapon.

[]
- Added text filter to loadout.
- Added peel animation when player cycles position.
- Fixed enemies on the square radar not rotating to match their view.
- Fixed teammate colors sometimes shuffling on some panels when a player disconnected in Competitive Mode.
- Crosshair style 2 (Classic) has been changed to accurately show weapon accuracy.
- Added some ConVars to be used with crosshairstyle 2 (Classic) to allow users to further customize how they want it to display. (cl_crosshair_dynamic_splitdist, cl_crosshair_dynamic_splitalpha_innermod, cl_crosshair_dynamic_splitalpha_outermod, cl_crosshair_dynamic_maxdist_splitratio)


[]
- Overpass
-- Improved visibility.
-- Removed small cover on CT side of Bombsite B.
-- Drastically reduced the number of trashcans.
-- Widened tunnel near T spawn.
-- Widened lower door in park connector.
-- Widened corridor near CT sniper room.

[]
- Fixes to improve game stability during startup.
- Added diagnostic info to debug video config reset.
- Fixed dedicated server to write steam_appid.txt
- Fixed several game server memory leaks.
- Fixed a bug causing certain workshop maps to re-download every time the game is launched.

Release Notes for 2/5/2014

[]
- Added Sticker Capsules. Each capsule contains one sticker out of a series of sticker designs.
- Sticker Capsules can be received as drops at the end of matches, and are opened using a Sticker Capsule Key.
- A sticker can be applied to any gun, and each gun can hold multiple stickers.

[]
- Several adjustments to improve performance for a range of hardware configurations.
- Ended Operation Bravo.
- Overpass and Cobblestone maps are now available to everyone.
- Removed the following items from the store:
-- Season's Gifts. They are still marketable on the Community Marketplace and remain fully functional.
-- Operation Bravo Passes. They are still marketable on the Community Marketplace and can be redeemed for an Operation Bravo Coin.
- Doing an ent_create now orients the created entity opposite the player's orientation so it's facing the player.
- Added a new material type called 'Lightmapped_4WayBlend' that can be used on displacements. Documentation can be found here: https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Lightmapped_4WayBlend
- Added more diagnostic information for buffer overflows in network channel.

[]
- Removed rouge [sic] pixel on mode map selection UI.
- Added player teammate colors in Competitive Mode that displays a unique color per teammate in the radar, playercount panel, scoreboard and the arrow over their head (can be toggled offline with cl_cmm_showteamplayercolors).
- Reduced translucency of avatars in playercount panel and did some minor visual updates.
- Enemies icons on radar are now a different shape than teammates.
- Hostages on radar now have an H in the dot and never rotate.
- Added sort method 'Equipped' to the Inventory.
- Added a setting to Game Options that allows hiding Team Tags in death notices.
- Team tags now scale to fit in the scoreboard and no longer overlap ping or get get cut off.
- Fixed an issue where sometimes no live games could be found in the Watch panel for the first minute after game launch.

[]
- All grenades now have a secondary fire that throws an underhand grenade a short distance in front of the player.
-- Secondary fire can be combined with primary fire to precisely adjust the strength of the throw.

- Weapon balance has been adjusted:
-- Improved Desert Eagle accuracy recovery
-- Improved Sg553 and AUG rates of fire.
-- Improved Sg553 and AUG scoped control ( reduced inaccuracy and recoil ).
-- Increased movement inaccuracy on all automatic weapons by 50%.
-- Movement inaccuracy when walking is now calculated differently, resulting in better walking accuracy across the board.
- sv_airaccelerate has been slightly increased.

[]
- Mirage
-- Fixed a bug where you could peek over a crate at CT stairs.
-- Added a peek position in Bombsite A connector, towards Palace exit.
-- Clipped benches inside palace.
-- Fixed some boost/exploit spots (Thanks F3RO!).
-- Breakable metal panels can no longer be shot through without triggering break effect.
-- Made it easier to get into hole leading to CT sniper window.
-- Made it easier to move over cart leading to B route from CT spawn.
-- Reworked cover in Bombsite A.
-- Reworked cover in Bombsite B.

- Overpass
-- Changed cover in playground.
-- Fixed smoke sorting on water.
-- Made players easier to see in park connector stairs.
-- Raised upper park divider to prevent peeking over it.
-- Increased ambient lighting.
-- Made bridge near Bombsite B twice as wide.
-- Made it easier to spot players in T side of canal.
-- Simplified the layout of Bombsite B slightly.
-- Removed small tree at CT side of upper park.
-- Blocked visibility through truck in Bombsite A.
-- Tweaked soundscape.
-- General optimizations.

- Inferno
-- Fixed a bug where players could get stuck in ceilingfans.
-- Fixed some areas where thrown C4 could get stuck.
-- Increased brightness slightly in hallway leading to balcony in Bombsite A.
-- Fixed gaps that players could see through in Bombsite B.
-- Made wall penetration in construction more consistent (Thanks Pawlesslol!).
-- Nerfed the refire rate on the churchbells (changed from infinite dings per second to 1 ding per second).
-- General optimizations.

- Dust 2
-- Removed dark texture near tunnel stairs.
-- Removed sky collision over building near T spawn.
-- Covered up shadow that looked like a player near CT spawn.
-- Fixed invisible ledges on curved corners.

- Assault
-- Fixed various graphical bugs.
-- Fixed bugs related to prop_physics_multiplayer.
-- Added a CT van to CT spawn.
-- Fixed an exploit where players could get out of the map.

Release Notes for 2/5/2014

[]
- Added Sticker Capsules. Each capsule contains one sticker out of a series of sticker designs.
- Sticker Capsules can be received as drops at the end of matches, and are opened using a Sticker Capsule Key.
- A sticker can be applied to any gun, and each gun can hold multiple stickers.

[]
- Several adjustments to improve performance for a range of hardware configurations.
- Ended Operation Bravo.
- Overpass and Cobblestone maps are now available to everyone.
- Removed the following items from the store:
-- Season's Gifts. They are still marketable on the Community Marketplace and remain fully functional.
-- Operation Bravo Passes. They are still marketable on the Community Marketplace and can be redeemed for an Operation Bravo Coin.
- Doing an ent_create now orients the created entity opposite the player's orientation so it's facing the player.
- Added a new material type called 'Lightmapped_4WayBlend' that can be used on displacements. Documentation can be found here: https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Lightmapped_4WayBlend
- Added more diagnostic information for buffer overflows in network channel.

[]
- Removed rouge [sic] pixel on mode map selection UI.
- Added player teammate colors in Competitive Mode that displays a unique color per teammate in the radar, playercount panel, scoreboard and the arrow over their head (can be toggled offline with cl_cmm_showteamplayercolors).
- Reduced translucency of avatars in playercount panel and did some minor visual updates.
- Enemies icons on radar are now a different shape than teammates.
- Hostages on radar now have an H in the dot and never rotate.
- Added sort method 'Equipped' to the Inventory.
- Added a setting to Game Options that allows hiding Team Tags in death notices.
- Team tags now scale to fit in the scoreboard and no longer overlap ping or get get cut off.
- Fixed an issue where sometimes no live games could be found in the Watch panel for the first minute after game launch.

[]
- All grenades now have a secondary fire that throws an underhand grenade a short distance in front of the player.
-- Secondary fire can be combined with primary fire to precisely adjust the strength of the throw.

- Weapon balance has been adjusted:
-- Improved Desert Eagle accuracy recovery
-- Improved Sg553 and AUG rates of fire.
-- Improved Sg553 and AUG scoped control ( reduced inaccuracy and recoil ).
-- Increased movement inaccuracy on all automatic weapons by 50%.
-- Movement inaccuracy when walking is now calculated differently, resulting in better walking accuracy across the board.
- sv_airaccelerate has been slightly increased.

[]
- Mirage
-- Fixed a bug where you could peek over a crate at CT stairs.
-- Added a peek position in Bombsite A connector, towards Palace exit.
-- Clipped benches inside palace.
-- Fixed some boost/exploit spots (Thanks F3RO!).
-- Breakable metal panels can no longer be shot through without triggering break effect.
-- Made it easier to get into hole leading to CT sniper window.
-- Made it easier to move over cart leading to B route from CT spawn.
-- Reworked cover in Bombsite A.
-- Reworked cover in Bombsite B.

- Overpass
-- Changed cover in playground.
-- Fixed smoke sorting on water.
-- Made players easier to see in park connector stairs.
-- Raised upper park divider to prevent peeking over it.
-- Increased ambient lighting.
-- Made bridge near Bombsite B twice as wide.
-- Made it easier to spot players in T side of canal.
-- Simplified the layout of Bombsite B slightly.
-- Removed small tree at CT side of upper park.
-- Blocked visibility through truck in Bombsite A.
-- Tweaked soundscape.
-- General optimizations.

- Inferno
-- Fixed a bug where players could get stuck in ceilingfans.
-- Fixed some areas where thrown C4 could get stuck.
-- Increased brightness slightly in hallway leading to balcony in Bombsite A.
-- Fixed gaps that players could see through in Bombsite B.
-- Made wall penetration in construction more consistent (Thanks Pawlesslol!).
-- Nerfed the refire rate on the churchbells (changed from infinite dings per second to 1 ding per second).
-- General optimizations.

- Dust 2
-- Removed dark texture near tunnel stairs.
-- Removed sky collision over building near T spawn.
-- Covered up shadow that looked like a player near CT spawn.
-- Fixed invisible ledges on curved corners.

- Assault
-- Fixed various graphical bugs.
-- Fixed bugs related to prop_physics_multiplayer.
-- Added a CT van to CT spawn.
-- Fixed an exploit where players could get out of the map.

Release Notes for 1/23/2014

- Significant improvement to server infrastructure to support growing CS:GO community.

[]
- Fixed an alt-tab related memory leak.
- Added ability for Friends Lister to display two columns of friends.
- Added ability for mouse wheel to scroll Friends Lister.
- Added filtering by item name. Players can enter any part of an item name in the text field to filter their inventory.
- Added ability to sort items when selecting items that will work with a tool.
- Players can no longer initiate a vote kick on the final round or match point.
- The 'bomb has been planted alert' now also states the number of seconds that mp_c4timer is set to.
- The voice chat button in the lobby (microphone) now stores it's state from session to session.
- Fixed remaining cases where Blog would take mouse input when if was obscured.
- Fixed Main Menu bar buttons getting stuck in highlighted state.
- Context menu entries are now divided into categories.
- Open Case UI will auto-select a key in cases where players do not need to choose between different types of keys.
- Fixed cases where players could not rename items in Lobby and Pause menu inventories.
- Inventory images will show the thumbnail for a weapon's sticker.
- Buying helmet when you already have kevlar will now update the health/armor HUD icon element immediately on purchase.
- Fixed the freeze cam panel not always having the killer's weapon item data during demo playback.
- Grenades now show player ownership in their name.
- Fixed some vote panel text getting truncated.
- Fixed the health, armor and ammo HUD elements not showing up sometimes when spectating some players.
- Fixed some alignment issues on the spectator follow panel
- Fixed the weapon image in the spectator panel not having a background.
- Realigned the spectator follow panel a bit.
- The gift drop alert panel has been de-holiday-ified.
- Removed the snow from the main menu background.
- Turned off rope and freeze cam holiday effects.
- Fixed missing Cyrillic characters in chat.
- Fixed HUD disappearing when alt-tabbing or starting another app (like hlmv).


[]

OVERPASS
- [Bombsite A]
-- Moved CT van to give more effective cover
-- Made CT van climbable
-- Moved fences to give more space
-- Removed red car
-- Widened door into back of A
-- Blocked visibility from bridge to canal
-- Tweaked position/rotation of truck
-- Made corridors and stairs under A wider

- [Bombsite B]
-- Moved Bombsite B to CT side of pillar, extended area with a platform to give more space and cover
-- Made players in sniping room easier to silhouette against the background
-- Made cement sacks climbable
-- Opened up wall on CT side
-- Made bridge wider

- [General]
-- Moved up CT spawns and pushed T spawns further back
-- Increased C4 radius to 500 from 400
-- Railings in sniper room no longer blocks bullets or grenades
-- Added light to sniper room balcony
-- Made upper door in park connector wider
-- Made park connector easier to navigate
-- Made corridor near T spawn wider
-- Brighter ambient lights in canal pipes
-- Made climbing thing in playground more solid
-- Made bathroom corridor wider
-- Made windows in bathrooms breakable
-- Added spectator fixed camera positions
-- Tweaked soundscape settings
-- Fixed various minor bugs

COBBLESTONE
- Added collision to top of trees
- Added more accurate model collision
- Removed particle effects that could be mistaken for grenades
- Blocked a sightline in battlements near A
- Blocked a hiding hole in underpass near A
- Removed light models near statue at B that could be mistaken for player heads
- Removed a portapotty at back of B
- Raised height of center fence near B
- Fixed various minor bugs

Release Notes for 1/23/2014

- Significant improvement to server infrastructure to support growing CS:GO community.

[]
- Fixed an alt-tab related memory leak.
- Added ability for Friends Lister to display two columns of friends.
- Added ability for mouse wheel to scroll Friends Lister.
- Added filtering by item name. Players can enter any part of an item name in the text field to filter their inventory.
- Added ability to sort items when selecting items that will work with a tool.
- Players can no longer initiate a vote kick on the final round or match point.
- The 'bomb has been planted alert' now also states the number of seconds that mp_c4timer is set to.
- The voice chat button in the lobby (microphone) now stores it's state from session to session.
- Fixed remaining cases where Blog would take mouse input when if was obscured.
- Fixed Main Menu bar buttons getting stuck in highlighted state.
- Context menu entries are now divided into categories.
- Open Case UI will auto-select a key in cases where players do not need to choose between different types of keys.
- Fixed cases where players could not rename items in Lobby and Pause menu inventories.
- Inventory images will show the thumbnail for a weapon's sticker.
- Buying helmet when you already have kevlar will now update the health/armor HUD icon element immediately on purchase.
- Fixed the freeze cam panel not always having the killer's weapon item data during demo playback.
- Grenades now show player ownership in their name.
- Fixed some vote panel text getting truncated.
- Fixed the health, armor and ammo HUD elements not showing up sometimes when spectating some players.
- Fixed some alignment issues on the spectator follow panel
- Fixed the weapon image in the spectator panel not having a background.
- Realigned the spectator follow panel a bit.
- The gift drop alert panel has been de-holiday-ified.
- Removed the snow from the main menu background.
- Turned off rope and freeze cam holiday effects.
- Fixed missing Cyrillic characters in chat.
- Fixed HUD disappearing when alt-tabbing or starting another app (like hlmv).


[]

OVERPASS
- [Bombsite A]
-- Moved CT van to give more effective cover
-- Made CT van climbable
-- Moved fences to give more space
-- Removed red car
-- Widened door into back of A
-- Blocked visibility from bridge to canal
-- Tweaked position/rotation of truck
-- Made corridors and stairs under A wider

- [Bombsite B]
-- Moved Bombsite B to CT side of pillar, extended area with a platform to give more space and cover
-- Made players in sniping room easier to silhouette against the background
-- Made cement sacks climbable
-- Opened up wall on CT side
-- Made bridge wider

- [General]
-- Moved up CT spawns and pushed T spawns further back
-- Increased C4 radius to 500 from 400
-- Railings in sniper room no longer blocks bullets or grenades
-- Added light to sniper room balcony
-- Made upper door in park connector wider
-- Made park connector easier to navigate
-- Made corridor near T spawn wider
-- Brighter ambient lights in canal pipes
-- Made climbing thing in playground more solid
-- Made bathroom corridor wider
-- Made windows in bathrooms breakable
-- Added spectator fixed camera positions
-- Tweaked soundscape settings
-- Fixed various minor bugs

COBBLESTONE
- Added collision to top of trees
- Added more accurate model collision
- Removed particle effects that could be mistaken for grenades
- Blocked a sightline in battlements near A
- Blocked a hiding hole in underpass near A
- Removed light models near statue at B that could be mistaken for player heads
- Removed a portapotty at back of B
- Raised height of center fence near B
- Fixed various minor bugs

Release Notes for 1/23/2014

- Significant improvement to server infrastructure to support growing CS:GO community.

[]
- Fixed an alt-tab related memory leak.
- Added ability for Friends Lister to display two columns of friends.
- Added ability for mouse wheel to scroll Friends Lister.
- Added filtering by item name. Players can enter any part of an item name in the text field to filter their inventory.
- Added ability to sort items when selecting items that will work with a tool.
- Players can no longer initiate a vote kick on the final round or match point.
- The 'bomb has been planted alert' now also states the number of seconds that mp_c4timer is set to.
- The voice chat button in the lobby (microphone) now stores it's state from session to session.
- Fixed remaining cases where Blog would take mouse input when if was obscured.
- Fixed Main Menu bar buttons getting stuck in highlighted state.
- Context menu entries are now divided into categories.
- Open Case UI will auto-select a key in cases where players do not need to choose between different types of keys.
- Fixed cases where players could not rename items in Lobby and Pause menu inventories.
- Inventory images will show the thumbnail for a weapon's sticker.
- Buying helmet when you already have kevlar will now update the health/armor HUD icon element immediately on purchase.
- Fixed the freeze cam panel not always having the killer's weapon item data during demo playback.
- Grenades now show player ownership in their name.
- Fixed some vote panel text getting truncated.
- Fixed the health, armor and ammo HUD elements not showing up sometimes when spectating some players.
- Fixed some alignment issues on the spectator follow panel
- Fixed the weapon image in the spectator panel not having a background.
- Realigned the spectator follow panel a bit.
- The gift drop alert panel has been de-holiday-ified.
- Removed the snow from the main menu background.
- Turned off rope and freeze cam holiday effects.
- Fixed missing Cyrillic characters in chat.
- Fixed HUD disappearing when alt-tabbing or starting another app (like hlmv).


[]

OVERPASS
- [Bombsite A]
-- Moved CT van to give more effective cover
-- Made CT van climbable
-- Moved fences to give more space
-- Removed red car
-- Widened door into back of A
-- Blocked visibility from bridge to canal
-- Tweaked position/rotation of truck
-- Made corridors and stairs under A wider

- [Bombsite B]
-- Moved Bombsite B to CT side of pillar, extended area with a platform to give more space and cover
-- Made players in sniping room easier to silhouette against the background
-- Made cement sacks climbable
-- Opened up wall on CT side
-- Made bridge wider

- [General]
-- Moved up CT spawns and pushed T spawns further back
-- Increased C4 radius to 500 from 400
-- Railings in sniper room no longer blocks bullets or grenades
-- Added light to sniper room balcony
-- Made upper door in park connector wider
-- Made park connector easier to navigate
-- Made corridor near T spawn wider
-- Brighter ambient lights in canal pipes
-- Made climbing thing in playground more solid
-- Made bathroom corridor wider
-- Made windows in bathrooms breakable
-- Added spectator fixed camera positions
-- Tweaked soundscape settings
-- Fixed various minor bugs

COBBLESTONE
- Added collision to top of trees
- Added more accurate model collision
- Removed particle effects that could be mistaken for grenades
- Blocked a sightline in battlements near A
- Blocked a hiding hole in underpass near A
- Removed light models near statue at B that could be mistaken for player heads
- Removed a portapotty at back of B
- Raised height of center fence near B
- Fixed various minor bugs

http://www.counter-strike.net/winteroffensive/

Release Notes for 12/18/2013

[]
- Added three purchasable gift options:
-- Gift Package - gives a random item to a random player in your match.
-- Pallet of Presents - gives random items to up to nine people in your match.
-- Audience Participation Parcel - gives random items to up to 25 viewers watching your match.
- Added the Winter Offensive Case, the first-ever community-made case.
- Replaced the eSports case with the new eSports Winter Case.

[]
- Added Cobblestone and Overpass maps, which are available to community servers and offline play. Official matchmaking is limited to Operation Bravo in order to collect additional map balancing data prior to a wider release.
- Fixed an exploit in Assault
- Minor bugfixes in Bank, St.Marc and Sugarcane

[]
- Walking into shallow water no longer makes an audible splash.

[]
- Added a link to share downloaded matches. To access this link, download one of your recent matches, view the scoreboard from that match, and click on 'Copy Link.'
- Added say_team support for coaches.
- Added holiday cheer.

[]
- Fixed a Steam authentication problem when running individual CS:GO SDK tools not from Steam Library, but directly from command line.
- Fixed a bug causing workshop uploader tools to retrieve only the first 50 of a user's items.

http://www.counter-strike.net/winteroffensive/

Release Notes for 12/18/2013

[]
- Added three purchasable gift options:
-- Gift Package - gives a random item to a random player in your match.
-- Pallet of Presents - gives random items to up to nine people in your match.
-- Audience Participation Parcel - gives random items to up to 25 viewers watching your match.
- Added the Winter Offensive Case, the first-ever community-made case.
- Replaced the eSports case with the new eSports Winter Case.

[]
- Added Cobblestone and Overpass maps, which are available to community servers and offline play. Official matchmaking is limited to Operation Bravo in order to collect additional map balancing data prior to a wider release.
- Fixed an exploit in Assault
- Minor bugfixes in Bank, St.Marc and Sugarcane

[]
- Walking into shallow water no longer makes an audible splash.

[]
- Added a link to share downloaded matches. To access this link, download one of your recent matches, view the scoreboard from that match, and click on 'Copy Link.'
- Added say_team support for coaches.
- Added holiday cheer.

[]
- Fixed a Steam authentication problem when running individual CS:GO SDK tools not from Steam Library, but directly from command line.
- Fixed a bug causing workshop uploader tools to retrieve only the first 50 of a user's items.

<p class="post_date">25 Apr 2013 - <img style='margin-bottom: -1px;' src='http://blog.counter-strike.net/wp-content/themes/counterstrike_launch/images/csgo_blog_tag.png'></p>
<p><a href="http://blog.counter-strike.net/operationpayback"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-6916" alt="Operation Payback" src="http://blog.counter-strike.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Payback.jpg" width="520" height="340" /></a></p>
Since we launched the <a href="http://blog.counter-strike.net/index.php/2013/02/6691/">CS:GO Maps Workshop</a> back in February, over 1,400 maps have been uploaded. The CS team has been consistently blown away by how complex, well thought out, and just plain fun so many of these maps have been.

We really wanted these maps to reach a wider audience, and also get the people making these amazing new gameplay experiences rewarded for their efforts. But how? Luckily, in the time it takes a CT to hold up a flashbang and announce that it&#8217;s a flashbang, we hit upon the answer.

&#8220;<a href="http://blog.counter-strike.net/operationpayback">Operation Payback</a>&#8221; marks the first of an ongoing series of limited-time updates aimed at giving a well-earned financial reward to some of CS:GO&#8217;s most popular and prolific mapmakers. For a limited time, you can buy a pass half-priced for $2.99. That&#8217;ll get you unlimited access to a Classic Casual map group featuring seven of the highest-voted Workshop Maps. Invite your friends (even if they don&#8217;t have a pass) and enjoy uninterrupted low-ping play on official servers—all while rewarding CS:GO&#8217;s top-voted virtual mapmakers with real money. Buying a pass also gets you a one-of-a-kind challenge coin, upgradable by playing and viewable wherever your avatar is shown. &#8220;Operation Payback&#8221; will be live from now until July 31st, and it&#8217;s currently half-priced, <a href="http://blog.counter-strike.net/operationpayback">so get in there</a>!

And remember: &#8220;Payback&#8221; is just the beginning. Future Operations will highlight all-new collections of popular maps. So stay tuned, keep mapmaking, and keep upvoting!