Valve announces Counter-Strike 2 will launch soon as a CS:GO update

Counter-Strike 2 is real, and Valve said it’s coming soon as a free update for the popular CS: GO multiplayer game. Counter-Strike 2 will launch sometime in summer 2023, but if you’re keen to see what Valve has in store before then, you may have a chance. Valve is selecting some CS: GO players to test an early version of Counter-Strike 2 as the team evaluates a handful of features.

Despite having a “2” in the name, this isn’t the second Counter-Strike game and is more like Overwatch 2 in the sense that it’s largely a technical improvement over the original. Counter-Strike 2 will replace CS: GO when it launches in the summer and promises a number of improvements over CS:GO.

One small change that Valve hopes has substantial effects is how smoke behaves. In Counter-Strike 2, smoke will move, reflect, and billow more naturally, so you can use it to fill open spaces, cause confusion, and even distract enemies in buildings while you go about your business.

Old maps received a glow-up with new rendering effects, while some brand-new maps showcase the engine’s new light and read abilities. Maps are brighter and cleaner, though classic maps remain largely unchanged aside from lighting and a few other effects.

Valve also said Counter-Strike 2 runs on improved servers that log actions as soon as they take place, instead of recognizing actions at set intervals of time, or in “ticks.” The hope is that the FPS game will run more smoothly and be more responsive as a result. There’s no set release date for the Counter-Strike 2 update, and given the way Valve operates, they’ll probably announce the date seemingly at random one day when no one expects it.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF