Valve shared more information about the upcomingCounter-Strike 2, including the fact that skins and bans will carry over fromCS:GOto the new version of Valve’s competitive multiplayer first-person shooter.Counter-Strikeplayers will therefore keep some of the progress they made on Valve’s FPS over the past decade.
Valve unveiledCounter-Strike 2in a surprise announcement earlier today. This revamped version of Valve’s FPS series keeps the core elements that madeCounter-Strikepopular while bringing various gameplay and graphical improvements.Counter-Strike 2will run on Source 2, the game engine used to createHalf-Life: Alyxand the Steam Deck tech demoAperture Desk Job. In a series of videos, Valve highlighted some of the key changes coming toCounter-Strike 2, including the new responsive smoke grenades, the tick rates improvement to make matches less laggy, as well as the redesign of popular maps such as Dust 2, Nuke, and Inferno.Counter-Strike 2is expected to release in the summer of 2023, with a Limited Test version already available for a selection of players.
RELATED:Valve Removes Counter-Strike Global Offensive AWP Skin Due to Alleged Art Theft
In the FAQ section ofCounter-Strike 2’s Steam page, Valve stated that all the weapon finishes, stickers, and otherCS:GOinventory itemswill be available inCounter-Strike 2. While this is good news for those who unlocked cosmetics elements on Valve’s FPS, players who got caught cheating won’t get a second chance as accounts with VAC or game bans inCS:GOwon’t be able to playCounter-Strike 2on servers secured with Valve anti-cheat system.
On top of revealing that skins and bans carry over fromCS:GOtoCounter-Strike 2, this FAQ section unveils additional information, such as the fact that competitive cooldowns are shared between the two games, meaning that a player with a competitive cooldown onCS:GOcan’t matchmake inCounter-Strike 2and vice versa. TheCounter-Strike 2Limited Test, which allows a selected number of players to try Valve’s revamped FPS, offers deathmatch and unranked competitive matchmaking on Dust 2, one of themost popular maps inCounter-Strike. Workshop maps and community servers are not yet available inCounter-Strike 2but should join the game before its official release this summer.
This surpriseCounter-Strike 2announcement came a few days afterCS:GObroke its all-time concurrent player count recordwith over 1.4 million players. When the officialCS:GOTwitter account thanked players for this record, the comment section was flooded with requests for an update regardingCounter-Strike 2following rumors of a new game running on Source 2. Valve did not disappoint and unveiledCounter-Strike 2, and is now inviting more players to join its Limited Test by sending players a notification on the main menu ofCS:GO.
Counter-Strike 2will be released in the summer of 2023 for PC.
MORE:21 Games To Play If You Love Counter-Strike
