It is indeed true! Valve has officially announced that Counter-Strike 2 (Steam) actually exists and is coming out this year. Testing starts as early as today.
What is Counter-Strike 2? Counter-Strike 2 will be an update to CS:GO, which is set to release in summer 2023. On the official website, it states:
Counter-Strike 2 is the largest technical innovation in the history of Counter-Strike and lays the groundwork for numerous new features and updates in the coming years. […]
Counter-Strike 2 will be released this summer as a free upgrade to CS:GO.
via counter-strike.net
For weeks, leaks and rumors about Counter-Strike 2 have existed. For a long time, it was unclear what it was. Will it be its own game? Will it be an engine update? What does it improve? For many fans of the tactical shooter, it was the big topic, with many questions that are now finally answered.
What improvements does Counter-Strike 2 bring? Counter-Strike will improve several aspects of the game. On the website, Valve lists, among other things, the following content:
- Smoke grenades (gameplay, dispersal, light reactions)
- Overhaul of the maps (cleaner, brighter)
- High-resolution effects: The game graphics, visual effects, and interface have been revamped
- The sound effects have been overhauled and retuned
As an example of how the overhauls look, Valve has also released some videos, such as the new smoke grenades:
Testing begins today
What kind of tests are these? As of today, March 22, 2023, the first limited test phase is to begin, with which Valve aims to test various features before the release and address potential issues.
How can you participate in the test? You are at the mercy of your luck and Valve. In a FAQ on Steam, it states that players will be selected for the test by the developer team based on various factors. These factors include a trust factor and gameplay time on official Valve servers.
If you have been selected to participate in the CS2 tests, you will receive a notification in the CS:GO menu. The notification contains an invitation to start a download.
The first reactions: The Counter-Strike community is exploding with joy – who would have expected anything different? The comment section on Twitter is filled with statements like “Let go!” and “It’s really happening”. Of course, there are also tons of memes depicting a “freaking out with joy” scenario.
After nearly 45 minutes (as of March 22, 6:15 PM), the post has already received over 135,000 “likes”, been shared over 45,000 times, and seen by 4.5 million users.
The release of Counter-Strike 2 could not come at a better time for the tactical shooter. Just in February, CS:GO reached a new player record.
CS:GO has set a new player record on Steam 10 years after release – What’s going on?
