Earlier today, Valve announced via Twitter that Counter-Strike 2 would officially launch in Summer 2023. This news comes after rumors of the game’s existence circulated earlier this month. This will be the first entry in the series since Global Offensive was released in 2012.
Counter-Strike 2 will be a massive update for the existing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, including a switch to the new Source 2 engine. The engine change allow for a wide swath of new features that were shown off in a series of developer diaries. One of the more impressive changes shown off was the new dynamic smoke grenades. Smoke grenades respond to environmental factors such as obstacles on the map, bullets being shot through them, grenades exploding, and the smoke now looks the same for all players.
Other improvements thanks to Source 2 include every map being built from the ground up in the new engine, the sub-tick rate architecture making for a more consistent gameplay experience and improved lighting.
Skins and other items will transfer over to Counter-Strike 2 as well, meaning that players won’t have to worry about their hard-earned knives disappearing into the ether. Beta testing has started in a limited capacity as well, so existing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players should check to see whether they get to try out the new improvements.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive isn’t a dying game by any means,it is still ranked No.1 in terms of concurrent players according to SteamCharts. But the wide swathe of improvements that Counter-Strike 2 brings to the table will no doubt entice both new and returning players. It’s at least nice to know that Valve is finally putting a new game out.
Counter-Strike 2 releases on Steam sometime in Summer 2023. If you’re interested in the beta, you can check out Valve’s FAQ on it here.