Sport developer Valve has formally launched Counter-Strike 2, the much-anticipated successor to main esports title Counter-Strike: International Offensive (CS:GO).
Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) was launched as an replace that replaces CS:GO versus a standalone sport. It comes after greater than a decade of historical past for CS:GO, throughout which the sport franchise rose to mainstream prominence and etched its place as a core esports title.
“Counter-Strike 2 is right here,” Valve introduced in an official blog post, stating that the sport is “the most important technical leap ahead in Counter-Strike’s historical past, supporting new options at present and updates for years to come back.”
CS2 introduces a number of main gameplay adjustments that may majorly have an effect on how the sport is performed competitively.
Amongst the largest adjustments is a transfer from a MR15 to MR12, which means the primary group to win 13 rounds wins the sport, quite than the present 16 in CS:GO. This can shorten matches — notably bringing it straight consistent with rival VALORANT — which is able to change each how the sport is performed, and the size and viewing expertise for followers.
Further gameplay adjustments embrace a foundational shakeup to how grenades work, an replace to most of the sport’s maps, and a brand new in-game aggressive leaderboard system. Counter-Strike has additionally acquired a technical overhaul, with a transfer to Valve’s newer Supply 2 sport engine and enhancements to its tick charge server structure.
Whereas Counter-Strike 2 is now dwell for all gamers after a beta interval, esports occasions will probably not transition to the brand new sport instantly. The continued ESL Professional League Season 18 occasion will proceed to make use of CS:GO, match organiser ESL confirmed.
Stakeholders have reacted to the information positively. “We’re extremely excited concerning the launch of Counter-Strike 2 and may’t wait to host our first devoted occasion with the brand new sport iteration,” ESL said in an announcement. “Thanks for every thing,” the corporate added in a separate post, alongside a fragmovie of memorable moments from the sport.
FACEIT, a aggressive match platform and match organiser with a storied historical past within the CS:GO scene, said: “Goodbye CS:GO – you’ll without end stay in our hearts.”
As an esports title, Counter-Strike usually attracts in hundreds of thousands of concurrent viewers for its main tournaments. The most well-liked CS:GO match of all time was the PGL Main Stockholm 2021, which reached a peak viewers of two.75m, per Esports Charts data.
CS:GO as a online game was additionally nonetheless rising in recognition earlier than the replace. The sport broke its all-time player record in March, reaching 1.8m concurrent gamers on Steam.
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