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The gaming community is excited about the news that Valve may be gearing up to release a new version of its popular first-person shooter game, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO).
10 years since its debut, CSGO is about to undergo its biggest update yet, a brand new game engine. According to a report by e-sports journalist Richard Lewis, Valve plans to launch the next iteration of CSGO on its new Source 2 engine and he believes that the company could launch it as early as this month. He also claimed that Valve had already invited a group of professional players to play test the game at its headquarters in Seattle.
Latest on Substack: I'm as surprised as everyone but it turns out not only is Counter-Strike 2 real but it's coming very soon. Sources with a knowledge of the games development reveal details of the upcoming beta release.https://t.co/ogSk5QnU6L
— Richard Lewis (@RLewisReports) March 5, 2023
By migrating the game to the Source 2 engine, Valve hopes to improve the game's performance and graphics, similar to its other games such as Dota 2 and Half-Life: Alyx. However, this could mean that the new update could make the new CSGO game a bit more graphically demanding than the present variant.
Furthermore, Valve is also reportedly planning to overhaul the matchmaking system of the game and also increase the game servers’ tick rate from 64 to 128. While some fans and content creators speculate that these changes could make third-party platforms such as FACEIT or ESEA obsolete, it remains to be seen how the new update will impact their usage.
Making sure you all understood it right, once again:
— Aquarius (@aquaismissing)
- NVIDIA got CS:GO Source 2 Game Profile
- Source 2 is happening; it's a real thing with it's own executable 'csgos2.exe'
- 'cs2.exe' is old and irrelevant, your skins are safe, no separate games are being made
For years, the CSGO community had been debating over when Valve would migrate CSGO over to a newer game engine. Just last week, a Reddit user discovered a pair of executable files - "csgos2.exe" and "cs2.exe" - in Nvidia's latest drivers. This fueled rumours that Valve was potentially planning to migrate CSGO to the new Source 2 engine sooner rather than later. However, prominent YouTube creator, GabeFollower, tweeted that Valve might have simply moved the game to the Source 2 engine and the new game will not be "Counter-Strike 2" or receive a rebranding at all.
It won't be new game, it won't be Counter-Strike 2, it won't be even a rebrand, just CS:GO Source 2
— Gabe Follower 2 (@gabefollower) March 5, 2023
And your skins are fine, they will be available in new version.
Moreover, the community expressed concerns about the future of the present CSGO skin economy in the event of a new game release. Players and traders have collectively invested billions of dollars into cases, stickers, agents, weapon skins and music kits. There are also third-party CSGO marketplaces and skin gambling sites that rely on Valve's continued support for the game. However, GabeFollower has assured users that it will still be the same CSGO running on the Source 2 engine, and users' skins will likely work in the new game as well.
It is important to note that none of these has been officially confirmed by valve. It is probably best to take these developments with a grain of salt. If anything happens, we will be right here to report on it. Stay tuned for more!