Nick J. January 9, 2020
Valve is working with at least one top-tier team to address the visibility of Shattered Web models, a source revealed today.
With the release of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive's Shattered Web operation, the developer brought customizable player skins into the first-person shooter. It was immediately clear that some of these new Agents models blended into CSGO's maps, making them hard to see and giving a competitive advantage to those that bought or acquired them.
Today, a source inside a top Counter-Strike team told WIN.gg that they and their organization have worked with Valve to sort out the issue by identifying and sending examples of problematic agents to the developer.
Valve fixed four Agent with CSGO pros' help
As of now, only a few of the Agents have been adjusted: 3rd Commando Company, "Two Times" McCoy, and the Seal Team 6 Soldier. In the update, Valve described the changes as darkening their color and increasing the contract of the skins' head and shoulders.
"Valve reached out to us about helping to fix the models," the source told WIN.gg. They continued, saying that they helped Valve identify the problematic models, like "Two Times" and Seal Team 6.
Unfortunately, some models are still difficult to see. The FBI Swat Operator that WIN.gg used in our original demonstration of the model problem has seen no changes as of yet. Shawn "FMPONE" Snelling, the creator of Cache and the map that we tested the agents on, told Twitter that Valve informed mapmakers they they should work around the Agents.
Valve seems intent on leaving the Agents in CSGO. Reaching out to a team for assistance is the exact move Valve would make, despite their being a 1.6-era command to fix the issue once and for all. By asking a pro team to help identify problems, Valve could have both their monetization plan and calm the community, the Counter-Strike version of "having their cake and eating it too."
There might be more trouble brewing, however, as a recent Reddit post claims that FACEIT reenabled Agent skins on the platform and told the Mythic League hub to do it as well. When third-party services started to ban the use of the models, we commented on how Valve might get involved in order to protect their revenues, and it looks as though that is taking place now.