Valve’s updating the Godfather of the competitive FPS this summer, sending CS:GO out to pasture after a decade’s service, which launched the brand as an esports juggernaut and built a prototypical NFT economy with its weapon skins that modern Crypto Bros are still trying to replicate in 2023.
The risks of updating such a popular and profitable online game are vast. Blizzard could tell Valve something about that, having launched Overwatch 2 last year and enduring a backlash from its fanbase. Players were not happy with the new monetization model and game quality at launch. Overwatch 2 has since become a massive financial success, and the boycott some fans took part in seems to have had minimal impact. That tells us something about launching an online multiplayer sequel in the current market.
