Valve confirms release of Counter-Strike 2 for summer of 2023
6 April 2023
Until very recently, a possible release of Counter-Strike 2, as successor to the hugely popular esports title Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, was nothing more than a topic of discussion between players and fans of the First-Person Shooter. A mere few weeks ago though, on Wednesday March 22nd to be precise, Valve, the studio behind CS:GO, published a statement confirming that Counter-Strike 2 is on the way. Great news for the community and esports in general, of course, but there was more. Not only did the developer announce a successor to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, but they also stated that the highly anticipated release is planned for the summer of 2023. That’s just a few months away!
Test phase in full swing
Since the announcement by Valve towards the end of March, the company also launched a very limited test version of the upcoming Counter-Strike 2 title. The developer started by sending out exclusive invites, mainly to developers and streamers and such. “Players are selected based on a number of factors deemed important by the Counter-Strike 2 development team, including (but not limited to) recent playtime on Valve official servers, trust factor, and Steam account standing”, stated Valve in regard to the official criteria for getting access to the Counter-Strike 2 earl beta version.
Currently, the game’s official website also boasts information and explanation regarding the test phase of Counter-Strike 2 that is currently ongoing. Earlier, Valve wrote there that “all of the game’s new features will be revealed when it officially launches this summer, but the road to Counter-Strike 2 begins today as a Limited Test for select CS:GO players. During this testing period, we’ll be evaluating a subset of features to shake out any issues before the worldwide release. Counter-Strike 2 arrives this summer as a free upgrade to CS:GO. So build your loadout, hone your skills, and prepare yourself for what’s next”.
What’s new?
Naturally, one of the main topics for testing and discussing focuses on what is new in Counter-Strike 2, compared to its predecessor. Considering the time it has taken Valve to come up with a new title in the CS:GO series, you can expect a whole host of new features and improvements. To give you an idea of what to expect once the game has been released in summer, we’ve listed some of the major changes below.
- CS:GO 2 has been fitted with a new game engine, with Source 2 replacing the original Source engine that was released back in 2012. Games like Dota 2 and Half-Life: Alyx are based on Source 2 already, so expect considerable improvements in terms of visuals and gameplay for Counter-Strike 2.
- VAC Live is the game’s new anti-cheat system and while we don’t have a lot of information yet as to what this will look like in the game, we can already tell you that in CS:GO 2, a match will automatically end if the system detects cheating.
- New maps have been added, while several existing maps have been updated.