Deemed to give certain teams greater advantage over others, Valve has introduced new rules which limit coach communication during Valve-sponsored esports matches.
Although still permitted to converse with players during pre-game warm ups, 30-second timeouts, and during halftime, the new rules which have been endorsed by the ESL state coaches are now banned from interacting with their teams when actual rounds are underway.
Posted by HLTV, the email signed by Valve s Ido Magal reads as follows:
"With unrestricted communication with their players, coaches can currently function as a sixth player, and not solely as a source of guidance or training. Activities such as keeping track of the economy, calling plays, and general situational awareness are important components of CS gameplay. If a person is performing these actions, we consider them a player.
Since the goal of our events is to identify the best five-player CS teams that exhibit the best combination of all CS skills, the current participation of coaches in the game is not compatible with that goal. To address this problem, future Valve sponsored events will enforce the following coaching rules:
During a match, the coach may only communicate with the players during warm up, half-time, or during one of four 30 second timeouts that the coach or player can call. Obviously, third party events can use whatever rules they want but if you want to align your events with ours then we recommend using this coaching rule."
According to HLTV, the first major event to implement the new rules will be ESL One New York which kicks off towards the end of September. In light of the ruleset change, there s already murmurs among top players of inter-squad discussions on how to proceed, strike action and even union formations.
In what feels like the end of an era, Swedish side Fnatic have announced a huge change to their CS:GO roster, releasing three players, JW, flusha and KRIMZ from their lineup. While some teams in CS are known for regular changes, there are also the stalwarts, NiP, Virtus Pro and Fnatic, who have maintained (roughly) the same core team for many years. It therefore holds significant weight when these mighty bastions finally crumble.
Rather than fully disband, the three players will be moving to join their former teammate, pronax, in team GODSENT, of which they will become co-owners and shareholders. This surprise announcement (released just fifteen minutes before GODSENT were scheduled to play a match) follows in the footsteps of Danish side Astralis, who left the TeamSoloMid organisation to form their own.To fill the void left behind, Fnatic have welcomed GODSENT players twist and Lekr0, both Swedish players of talent. The final slot has been taken by wenton, who will be looking to prove himself after Fnatic s lacklustre performance during his time substituting olofmeister.
New opportunities
It would be hard for onlookers not to see this change as a downgrade for Fnatic, given that they re losing two of their most experienced players in the form of JW and flusha. Both of these players were present at every Major victory during Fnatic s reign. However, the acquisition of GODSENT players gives Fnatic a real chance to revitalise themselves. Twist should acclimatise quickly, holding previous experience with olof and dennis under LGB. Lekr0, fairly new to the upper echelons of competition, could offer a fresh perspective and will be one to watch closely as he establishes himself in the coming months.
The swap to GODSENT represents a return to old ways for JW and Flusha, who competed with both pronax and znajder under the Fnatic banner back in 2013. Departing messages from each player hint at ideological differences within the team. This combined with the move to become co-owners of GODSENT indicates that the players rather than the organisation may have been behind the split.
Photo credit: ESL
Perhaps the most surprising change comes in the separation of olofmeister and KRIMZ, who were renowned as one of CS:GO s most efficient and dangerous pairings. The question for GODSENT will therefore be who can provide the star-player performance in their lineup. Having struggled to perform during olof s downtime, it will be up to KRIMZ to excel once more without his teammate to rely on. In addition, there s a real chance that the move to GODSENT will see JW return to primary AWPing, an opportunity for him to reassert himself through the quick-firing, aggressive play that brought him to fame in the first place.
Going down in history
Fnatic s core of olof, KRIMZ, flusha and JW will surely be remembered as one of the strongest forces in Global Offensive s history, producing a staggering display of dominance throughout 2014-15. In 2015 alone, Fnatic won no less than five $100,000 prize tournaments, including both Katowice and Cologne Majors. Few beyond NiP can rival their past success and it may be some time before we see another side in charge for so long. In contrast to NiP s slow decline, Fnatic ran into trouble when olofmeister suffered from significant wrist problems and was forced to take a break for his own health in April. Competing with wenton as a substitute, the swedes seemed to fall into disarray, never quite recovering even upon olof s return. Despite this, Fnatic hold a superb legacy in CS and their success will likely be remembered for years to come.
Hullo! One day later than usual because I spent yesterday on a beach next to an industrial estate, but as always, here’s what sold best on Steam last week. It is ever so faintly possible that you might have a very slight inkling as to what is number one. I could not possibly comment myself.
Skins are a big deal in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Since launching in the Arms Deal update in August 2013, gun paint has become as much a part of Counter-Strike culture as defusing bombs and rescuing hostages. For most of us, a weapon 'finish' or skin is a fun way to liven up your arsenal a reward system within an already rewarding FPS. But skins are also a contentious business and, more importantly, a symbol of a player's status. And when it comes to showing off, there's no gun more likely to drive others green with envy than the M4A4 Howl the closest thing Counter-Strike has to a legendary gun.
The M4A4 Howl stands alone when it comes to gun finishes in Counter-Strike. Though you ll occasionally see other guns and knives listed at a higher price, the StatTrak M4A4 Howl (Factory New) is uniquely valuable. The rarity of the Howl doesn't come from its gorgeous red striping and the fiery creature emblazoned along the left side of the receiver, but rather from the story of theft, DMCA takedowns, and banned players that made it famous. It could've just vanished from the game forever, but Valve made it a legend.
Image credit: TH3X on Steam.
It's just skin
The story of the Howl traces all the way back to 2010, when Valve made huge changes to one of its most popular games, Team Fortress 2, that introduced a microtransaction economy called the Mann Co. store. At the time, no one could foresee how this move would impact just about every Valve game as players began trading, crafting, and buying a variety of items using Team Fortress 2's virtual marketplace. Only a year later, Valve expanded on the system by creating the Steam Workshop, where modders and artists from the community were invited to submit their designs to be used and voted on by other players. If those designs were especially popular, Valve would officially include them in updates to Team Fortress 2.
It could've just vanished from the game forever, but Valve made it a legend.
In the two years that followed, the Steam Workshop began creeping its way into other games like Dota 2 and Skyrim, providing a unified marketplace for user-generated content and, for Valve's games, creating a birthing ground for one of the most complex microtransaction economies in all of gaming. It wasn't until 2013 that the Workshop found its way to CS:GO for players to design and share new maps and game modes. At the time Counter-Strike was still a divided community, with many players choosing to stick with the two previous iterations Counter-Strike: Source and Counter-Strike 1.6. It was only after Valve released the Arms Deal update finally letting players purchase and trade custom skins for their weapons that CS:GO transformed into the multiplayer and esports phenomenon that it is today.
Image credit: Nitor_cs on Reddit.
In 2014, the marketplace for skins was exploding with players routinely trading rare knives and gun finishes for hundreds of dollars. Artists, inspired by the wads of cash modders were making if Valve chose their designs to be sold in their games, began flooding the CS:GO Workshop with their ideas for the next hot skin that would have players in a frenzy but not all of those ideas were original.
On March 30, 2014, a skin and a sticker were uploaded to the workshop under the title 'Howling Dawn' by Steam users Auzzii and sic. The skin, which would go on to earn more than 4,500 positive ratings, was supposedly the original work of Auzzii. In the description he wrote, "I wanted to make an intresting [sic] illustration, so I created this. It originated from a picture of my dog, it's kind of taking the out of him in a way as he's the complete opisite [sic] to the wolf."
A month later that skin and sticker were officially added to CS:GO as part of the Huntsman collection because of their popularity among the Workshop community. These collections would drop special cases in-game that players could purchase keys to open and earn one of the skins contained within. Those that were lucky opened up a case to find a flashy new M4A4 Howl.
CanisAlbus's original artwork that Auzzii stole.
Crime and punishment
While the Arms Deal update that brought skins to CS:GO played heavily on themes of illegal black market trading, it was never intended to facilitate actual theft. But in June of 2014, Deviantart user CanisAlbus discovered that's exactly what had happened the popular Howl skin wasn't inspired by Auzzii's dog, it was a shameless copy of his own artwork.
"Someone has stolen one of my artworks to make a custom skin for a gun in a game called Counter-Strike: Global Offensive," CanisAlbus wrote in his Deviantart blog. "I'm just letting you know(sic) that I did design this piece, but I didn't upload the items to the stream [sic] marketplace and the spineless worm who submitted it didn't have my permission to do so. However, I have reported both copyright infringements and I'm hoping that the items will be removed soon."
As CS:GO continued to become more popular, the price of a Howl skin skyrocketed.
Days later, Valve announced that they had received a DMCA takedown notice regarding the use of CanisAlbus's artwork without permission and responded. "When we launched the CS:GO Items Workshop, our goal was to provide artists with a space to share their creative ideas," Valve wrote in a blog to the community. "By design, the Items Workshop has very low friction for artists to submit their work new contributions do not require Valve review or approval." They do however, require that modders sign a legal agreement before uploading their creations.
The community didn't react kindly. In a Reddit thread one user wrote, "[it] took me a damn week to finish the artwork for my skin, disregarding the time spent modifying the pattern to fit the gun properly. Auzzii is a tool for doing this, and honestly I'm pretty surprised it hasn't come up sooner."
A comparison of the old Howl (left) and the new (right). Click the arrows to enlarge.
Howl, the Howling Dawn sticker, and the five other guns from the Huntsman collection that sic was involved in making were removed from the weapon cases though they would still remain in player's inventories. In the case of Howl and its sticker, both were given original redesigns by the CS:GO team to reflect their original aesthetic but avoid infringing CanisAlbus's copyright.
For sic, this revelation of theft was a slap in the face. He had been making CS:GO skins for months, and compared to first-time contributor Auzzii, stood to lose a lot more. In an update to the Howling Dawn's original Workshop page, he implied his ignorance of the theft. "Guys please take note that I am not the guy to stole the art. It was proposed by Auzzii that I use HIS art to make a skin or sticker, which was the worst decision I've made by far looking at what's happening. I've already contacted the artist Canis about this matter and apologized, hoping to get a solution for this matter."
Unfortunately for sic, the only solution was a lifetime ban from Steam for himself and Auzzii.
Making a legend
What makes the Howl such a remarkable story is that Valve simply could have remade the skin and wiped its hands of the matter. Valve s redesign was its own property, so there was no need to pull new copies of the weapon from being generated in weapon cases, but in doing so they created CS:GO's most unique skin.
Following the redesign of the finish and sticker and the announcement that neither would be attainable beyond the stock that already existed in player's inventories, Valve embraced sic and Auzzie's illicit activities and bumped Howl up into a category all its own by assigning it 'Contraband' level of rarity. To date, no other item in CS:GO carries this descriptor.
With the skin no longer available for purchase, the remaining stock quickly became valuable items for any CS:GO player's collection. Using archive.org to view CSGO Analyst, we can see that by the end of 2014 the skin was being listed at roughly $270. As CS:GO continued to become more popular and the esports scene took off, that price skyrocketed to the $1,800 it is today.
The new Howl noticeably changes the wolf in CanisAlbus's work to a more non-descript beast.
Skins in CS:GO come in different qualities, but the Factory New with the StatTrak add-on that tallies kills has become an icon among professional players. GuardiaN of team Natus Vincere hoards six StatTrak Howl (Factory New) M4A4s in addition to lesser quality ones a total worth an estimated $12,000.
There's no telling how many Howls are still in circulation. Because the Steam marketplace places limits on the price of items, those being sold are through third-party CS:GO trading websites. Stickers can still be purchased right now for over $150, however. But if you've got a lot of money to burn and are looking to own one of the most sought after finishes in CS:GO, a StatTrak M4A4 Howl (Factory New) is the closest thing CS:GO has to an Excalibur or a Mj lnir. And it's all thanks to two thieving artists.
You might have noticed all your friends’ avatars and profile pictures turning into comic book drawings or impressionistic paintings over the last few weeks. That’s because of Prisma, a photo editing app for iOS and Android that let’s you apply a couple of dozen filters to images you feed it. The app goes further than simply messing with the hue like Instagram does, using a process similar to Google Deep Dream to warp and twist photographs – without shoving fucked up dogs in every corner.
I spent last night feeding it game screenshots, to find out what No Man’s Sky, Half-Life 2, SimCity and more would look like if their artists abandoned realism.
Day of Defeat - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Brendan Caldwell)
Every Monday, Brendan heads to the frontlines of early access and writes about his heroic battles there. This week, he repeatedly fires upon his own team in multiplayer shooter Day of Infamy.>
In an age of Overwatches and hyper-CoDs it s easy to forget that every first-person shooter was once set inside a single trench of World War II. Returning to this battlefield might seem like a terrible idea to some who ve served their time in the hellish artillery bombardments of yesteryear. But I never played Day of Defeat, the Half-Life mod upon which this new WWII outing is based. So fumbling with grenades in the mud and snow of the Western front is something I was happy to do. I even tried my hand at commanding the other men. Which obviously resulted in everyone being disintegrated into thousands of tiny pieces.
I’m no expert when it comes to firing accurately in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, but I’ve been playing with the series’ AK-47s and M4A4s for long enough that it feels like my fingers know their fire rates and kickbacks instinctively. I could now test that theory by seeing whether I can tell the difference after a recent update changed accuracy recovery rates for those two weapons plus the M4A1-S.
Seven years and counting, CS:GO updates are still dropping. In 2019, CS:GO is going strong with map updates, new events, and balancing changes. Last year brought the biggest update to Counter-Strike in recent history, Danger Zone, a surprise battle royale mode for up to 16 players. The most recent CS:GO update called "Shattered Web" brings actual characters to the game for the first time in the form of equippable skins for each Agent.
Increased price of SG553 to $3000 to bring its price more in line with its value.
Reduced the price of FAMAS and Galil by $200 (to $2050 and $1800, respectively)
Improved full-auto spraying accuracy of FAMAS and Galil.
Danger Zone
Buymenu price adjustments for ssg08 and radar jammer.
Minor timing adjustments for locked door and safe interaction.
Automated sentries now fire M249 bullets.
Added killfeed icon for automated sentry.
Added more explosive barrels.
Tablet crate icons now show an above/below annotation if significantly above or below the player.
Minor change to zone effect visuals.
Misc
‘AWP | Hyper Beast’ and ‘P90 | Nostalgia’ updated to correct wear at Factory New
Workshop
Pearlescent coatings:
We have added support for applying a pearlescent coating to weapon finishes. Pearlescent coatings use ceramic crystals to reflect and refract light, splitting it into different colors as the view angle changes. This effect can be used in a number of ways to subtly enhance your weapon finish or make drastic changes. The new Operation Shattered Web collections have some weapons with pearlescent coatings to illustrate some of the ways this new feature can be used. The Workshop Workbench has been updated to include this feature so you can experiment with adding this coating to a weapon finish. Using higher values will make the color bands tighter and more frequent and using negative values will flip the spectrum to start on the opposite end. It should be noted that this coating will shift the hue of your weapon finish so parts with no saturation, and therefore no hue, will have no pearlescent effect. We look forward to seeing what interesting applications you come up with.
Maps
Added Studio to Scrimmage and Casual Sigma map groups.
Added Jungle to the Danger Zone rotation.
Added Lunacy to Flying Scoutsman
Zoo and Seaside have been removed.
Cache
Cache has been moved from Scrimmage to Competitive Matchmaking
Vertigo
Added ramp to final stage of scaffolding on A ramp, no longer need to jump up
Connected corridor to back of A with CT elevator room
Widened top of mid
Offset doors from CT spawn and to CT elevator room
Made A site CT death funnel shorter, widened site area
Removed big block in CT spawn
Moved A ramp sandbags to allow jump up
Various bug and clipping fixes
CS:GO update: August 14, 2019
Berlin 2019
The “Berlin 2019 Viewer Pass” and the “Berlin 2019 Viewer Pass + 3 Souvenir Tokens” are now available for purchase. 50% of the proceeds go to the players and organizations taking part in the StarLadder Berlin Major.
With a Viewer Pass, you’ll get:
An upgradable Berlin 2019 Event Coin.
Access to the Berlin Pick’Em Challenge.
Unlimited team graffiti for the duration of the event.
Steam.tv team flair.
Access to Berlin 2019 Souvenir Packages.
All-new Viewer Pass Missions.
Ability to purchase additional Souvenir Tokens.
Team and player autograph stickers are available for purchase.
Misc
Improved calculation of client packets processing time to account for dedicated server systems where clock can jump backwards.
Optimized client-side processing when kills are scored with StatTrak weapons.
Maps
Breach has been updated to the latest Workshop version
CS: GO update: July 22, 2019
Misc
Added support for displaying Berlin 2019 Minor play-off matches in-game.
Fixed the events lister showing two rows for events that were both favorited and featured.
Adjusted HE grenade collision hull to reduce rolling when dropped.
Maps
Workout:
Retextured the pool area so its a lot brighter
Made movement in the pool area smoother
Pushed the hostage rescue zone further forward
Added CT sided cover to the basketball court
Made the entire kids zone area much brighter
Updated some textures and meshes throughout the map
Due to customer complaints, homebrew coffee have added some bins
Stopped players being able to slide up the horse at T side stadium entrance
Fixed mesh clipping issue at the ice cream stand
Ruby:
Overall layout tweaks
Dust 2:
The anniversary celebration has ended
CS:GO update: June 19, 2019
The latest update has some fixed for Dust 2, the retro map Valve added to CS:GO to celebrate 20 years of Counter-Strike. Full patch notes are below.
[MISC]
Fixed in-game blog sometimes not showing the most recent content.
Fixed missing CSM on some materials in OpenGL.
Fixed grass height bug on Linux.
[MAPS]
Dust 2
Fixed spawn priorities.
Fixed pixelwalk in retro version.
Added navmesh names for retro version.
CS:GO update log
June 18, 2019
[20TH ANNIVERSARY]
Celebrate 20 years of Counter-Strike with a retro version of Dust 2, currently available in the Casual Dust II map group.
The Chicken Capsule is now available for purchase in-game.
[GAMEPLAY]
Adjustments to the AUG to bring its utility more in line with other rifles.
Slightly reduced rate of fire.
Reduced accuracy while unscoped.
[DANGER ZONE]
Fixed an exploit involving duplication of items dropped by disarming another player.
Players in warmup spawn closer to their teammate.
Players in warmup now spawn with a random pistol.
January 24, 2019
[MAPS]
Added a new version of Vertigo to Wingman official matchmaking.
Added Zoo and Abbey to Casual and Deathmatch official matchmaking.
Removed Austria and Subzero from official matchmaking.
Biome:
Improved performance.
Removed connector between A short and A long.
Removed mid lower entry.
Added ladder to mid upper entry.
Moved T spawn towards A to give CTs better mid timings.
Fixed several bomb stuck spots and clipping issues.
[MISC]
Accounts are now automatically upgraded to Prime by reaching Lieutenant Rank 21.
Fixed a regression for some Perfect World accounts with completed Identity Verification and restored their Prime Account Status.
Fixed scoreboard team names truncation in some languages.
Fixed random map behavior in offline with bots game modes.
[SOUND]
Adjusted velocity value for when jump ‘step’ sound plays for more consistent behavior.
Fixed a bug where player fall damage sound wasn’t playing most of the time.
Fixed a bug where “the bomb has been defused” and “counter-terrorists win” VO lines could overlap each other.
January 14, 2019
Fixed team names truncation issue in scoreboard in some languages.
Fixed snowballs from being purchasable from the console.
Fixed snowballs and sensor grenades to not occupy the same grenade slot.
Added game server log output for team assignments when game is commencing and after backup reload.
Added game server log output for match pause and unpause state changes.
Added support for Katowice 2019 in-game streams.
Fixed cases where players could get stuck inside each other (or less frequently, world geometry) when jump crouching.
December 18, 2018
[DANGER ZONE]
Fixed an exploit resulting in players sometimes getting trapped under the world.
Fixed security doors sometimes having $0 price tags.
Fixed automated sentry gun lasers sometimes not disappearing.
Minor adjustment to the angles of items that come out of crates.
[MISC]
Movement fix for players getting stuck on each other in competitive modes near ledges.
Holiday forecast calls for snow on the Menu UI.
December 17, 2018
[WINTER SEASON FUN]
Chickens are now sporting their festive-wear to celebrate the season.
Players can now pick up and throw snowballs in all game modes except Danger Zone, Wingman, and Competitive Matchmaking.
The T’s have gift wrapped their special package for the holiday season.
Freeze frame holiday borders are back to wish you a happy winter season.
Take a winter vacation to Militia! Now available in Casual and Deathmatch game modes.
[10 YEAR COIN]
The Ten Year Veteran Coin will be awarded to players who have been a member of the Counter-Strike community for over 10 years. To be eligible to receive the coin the player must have a Steam account in good standing owning a game from the Counter-Strike series. The player must have owned the game for ten years and played the game at least once. The coin will be awarded next time Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is launched.
[2019 SERVICE MEDAL]
When you become a Global General (Rank 40), you’ll be given the opportunity to reset your Profile Rank. After January 1, 2019 you’ll be able to receive a new 2019 Service Medal, an inspectable display item that will be visible wherever your avatar is shown.
With Valve cracking down on sites which use Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2 cosmetic skins and items for gambling, two major sites have announced they plan to continue by going legit. Ish. CSGOLounge and Dota2Lounge say they’ve decided to get a license to run esports betting legally, though they’re still insistent that they don’t need one. As ever, is an issue of whether gambling with skins as currency properly counts. The sites are also blocking bets from countries which don’t allow betting on esports, which include the USA and our own green and pleasant land.
The CS:GO skin gambling controversy that kicked off in June seemed to come to a head a couple of weeks ago when Valve issued a cease-and-desist letter to more than 20 gambling sites, including CSGO Lounge, one of the first and biggest websites in the questionably legal industry that grew around Valve's game. It was a fairly straightforward proposition: Commercial use of Steam accounts is unlicensed and in violation of the SSA [Steam Subscriber Agreement], Valve wrote, and could lead to penalties of various sorts, including the loss of the account outright.
The general expectation was that gambling sites would be forced to shut down, although once such site, CSGOBig, said the closure was only temporary and vowed to return. But CSGO Lounge has taken a different tack by embracing its gambling heritage, even as it denied that it was ever actually a gambling site at all.
From the very beginning, the lounge service was intended as an entertainment service for the esports community of Dota2 and CS:GO, and we have never considered it as a real money betting. Virtual items in CS:GO and Dota2 have no monetary value and any community interaction with the virtual items is meant only for entertainment, without any profit interest, a recently-posted notice explains. We did not collect any commission or similar until June 2016, where we started doing it in order to improve our items drafting and quality of winnings, compensate items losses due to issues related to our product or issues with Steam community trading, to enable giveaways for the community and add more features to our service in near future.
After all the recent events around virtual items and the official letter by Valve, which we have received as well, we were left out alone without any additional information or communication by Valve on this matter. We had to make a decision on how to proceed with Lounges as community place and entertainment service. The situation is highly confusing we are not offering games of luck, we are not offering any transactions with real money or equivalents. Despite those facts, in order to avoid or reduce the confusion, we have decided to acquire a license to legally operate in most of the countries and be able to accept the esports bets by our community, as if it would be real money, it says.
Gambling laws differ significantly across the world and even within individual countries, and essentially Lounge is only now making an attempt to implement systems that comply with them. As Evan explained in his breakdown of the CSGO skin gambling scene, Lounge itself has been operating for about three years without any meaningful checks against a user's age or location. To me, Lounge's rapid move to implement these systems is a tacit admission of wrongdoing.
Starting from Monday, 1st August 2016, we will start limiting the access to the betting functionality for users visiting us from countries and regions, where online esports betting is forbidden. We will add additional registration and verification process and we require you to comply with our new Terms of Service if you want to keep using our service. We also remind that our service is only for users who are at least 18 years old, it continues. We will be operating according to the new terms and any transactions related to the items betting functionality will be handled accordingly to the new terms of service, and only on the territories, which do not forbid it by law.
The betting feature will be disabled in the following countries and regions, although users will still be able to withdraw any existing winnings and deposits:
United Kingdom
United States
Belgium
France
French Guiana
Guernsey
Gibraltar
Ireland
Isle of Man
Jersey
Martinique
French Polynesia
Reunion
Mayotte
Turkey
Spain
Scotland
Israel
The ban on betting from the US, UK, and parts of Europe in particular should severely impact the number of CS:GO items that are bet on the site. CSGO Lounge said it is trying to come up with ways for people in those regions to stay engaged with its site, although it also warned that it can't guarantee the safety or sanctity of items on the site if and when Valve decides to drop the hammer.
That's the big question mark hanging over this whole thing. CSGO Lounge appears to be making moves toward legitimacy, but Valve's C&D specifically cites the unlicensed commercial use of Steam as the problem here not that these are gambling sites, but that Steam and Steam services are licensed for personal, non-commercial use only. Even if the Lounge gets squared away as a proper, up-front gambling site, in other words, if it's still making use of Steam, it will presumably still be in violation of the SSA. Theoretically, it could disentangle itself from Steam and operate independently, but given how tightly integrated it, that seems unlikely or at the very least, unlikely to succeed.
I've reached out to both Valve and CSGO Lounge for comment.
