Mentioned in this article Games: Dota 2, Overwatch

Perfect World, Valve’s Chinese Counter-Strike partner, has made the game free-to-play for all verified users, per a report from Dot Esports. Users who verify their Perfect World accounts will be able to access exclusive multiplayer matchmaking. This could do well to push the game’s popularity in the country, a curious situation that we explained earlier this year when the game was first released in China:

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Now free, gamers have even more reason to turn to the hit shooter over older titles like Crossfire.[/perfectpullquote]

“Legally, nothing stopped players downloading CS:GO in China [prior to April]. The lack of local support, however, forced them to rely on limited servers in Hong Kong and other regions. Poor connection and high ping rates has kept the Chinese CS:GO esports scene underground, so it makes sense that Valve would entrust this new version to Perfect World.”

Now free, gamers have even more reason to turn to the hit shooter over older titles like CrossFire—which has been the top shooter in China for years. And even though CS:GO will now be free, that doesn’t mean the game will see an influx of cheaters in China, as players must also link their gaming accounts to Alibaba credit account. Any incidents of cheating could result in a credit rating drop.

There’s a growing trend of Western publishers turning to Chinese companies to manage their games’ release in China—and its working out well for everyone involved. Valve worked with Perfect World previously for its Chinese Dota 2 release, and other companies like Riot Games and Blizzard work with other endemics Tencent and Netease, respectively. Netease has even committed itself to managing one of the teams for Blizzard’s upcoming Overwatch League, though there’s some concern about the clear conflict of interest.