Valve has issued an announcement on the launch of Counter-Strike 2 in a celebratory post about the 20th anniversary of Steam.
Previously, the developer stated that the sequel was targeting a release in the summer. The months rolled on, though, and there was no update from Valve on the status of Counter-Strike 2.
While celebrating 20 years since the launch of Steam, Valve commented on the achievements of 2023 and what players have to look forward to in the near future. “The year isn’t quite over,” it qualified.
“So far we’ve released a huge Steam Client update, Counter-Strike 2 entered into beta (and launches soon) and there are now more than 11,000 titles verified or playable on Steam Deck,” the company said. Ergo, it’s expected that fans will learn more about the game’s release in the next few weeks.
Counter-Strike 2 was revealed in March of this year, with very little notice to fans that it was even on the developer’s agenda. An update to Nvidia’s drivers uncovered files named ‘csgo2.exe’ and ‘cs2.exe’ but Valve did not acknowledge this at the time.
Then, trademarks for Counter-Strike 2 cropped up only a week ahead of its official announcement. While the title might suggest otherwise, it isn’t a totally new game in the Counter-Strike series. Instead, it’s a free upgrade for Global Offensive that is touted to be “the largest technical leap forward in Counter-Strike’s history”.
Formed from Valve’s Source 2 engine, the improved version comprises significant changes for things like smoke grenades and “sub-tick updates” that will let “servers know the exact instant that motion starts, a shot is fired, or a ‘nade is thrown”.
In other gaming news, Bethesda‘s Todd Howard said there were “hundreds of plans” for Starfield that went “out the window” to manage the team’s own expectations for the title.
The post ‘Counter-Strike 2’ is launching “soon,” according to Steam anniversary post appeared first on NME.
