Did you know there are two different versions of CS:GO? There's the normal Steam version you've probably played, and the version intended for the Chinese market released by Perfect World in 2017.
The Perfect World version was made to meet the Chinese government’s formal and informal regulations for content in the country. In particular, Chinese versions of western games are quick to censor skulls, gore, excessive violence and political iconography and views.
While there’s no actual written rule that strictly bans skulls and bones, developers often self censor aggressively to avoid having their games and cosmetics rejected by the Chinese National Press and Publication Administration.
Despite the developer's actual intentions, it comes down to interpretation as skulls, bones and even blood could be tied to a religious organization or cult in China. For that, it’s better to be safe than sorry which sees gaming companies censoring themselves or part of their games including Valve.
For that reason, a large number of skins in the Perfect World version are censored in interesting and unique ways, which he have demonstrated below. Whether these changes end up making the skin better than the normal version is up for you to decide.
Pistols
Five-SeveN | Scrawl
An example of a skull being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World Glock-18 | Nuclear Garden
An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World P250 | Cartel
An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World P250 | Contamination
An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World P250 | Muertos
An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World R8 Revolver | Crazy 8
An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World R8 Revolver | Skull Crusher
An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World Tec-9 | Toxic
An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World USP-S | Cortex
An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World USP-S | Kill Confirmed
An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World SMGs
MAC-10 | Curse
An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World MAC-10 | Nuclear Garden
An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World MAC-10 | Propaganda
A unique example of Perfect World censoring Russian-language text on the skin due to the potential connection to the Soviet Union. Credit: Valve/Perfect World P90 | Shallow Grave
An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World P90 | Grim
An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World MP7 | Cirrus
An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World MP7 | Skulls
Aptly Named. An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World UMP-45 | Primal Saber
Rare example of an animal skill being censored. Credit: Valve/Perfect World UMP-45 | Bone Pile
An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World Rifles
AK-47 | Cartel
An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World AWP | Acheron
An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World AWP | Exoskeleton
An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World AWP | Worm God
An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World FAMAS | Macabre
An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World FAMAS | Styx
An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World GALIL AR | Chatterbox
An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World M4A4 | Desolate Space
An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World M4A4 | Hellfire
An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World SG 553 | Bleached
Another rare example of animal skulls being censored. Credit: Valve/Perfect World SG 553 | Heavy Metal
An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World Heavy
Nova | Rising Skull
An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World Sawed-Off | Apocalypto
An example of gore and bones being toned down. Credit: Valve/Perfect World Sawed-Off | Yorick
Alas poor Yorick, what have they done to you? Credit: Valve/Perfect World XM1014 | Bone Machine
An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World XM1014 | XOXO
An example of skulls being removed. Credit: Valve/Perfect World The Perfect World version provides a special look to some skins while destroying the uniqueness of others like the R8 Revolver Skull Crusher. The censorship in China goes beyond skins, even map textures with Arabic texts are removed including any politically related symbols.
Now that you’ve seen both versions, Which one is your favorite? Tweet at us @blix_gg