Valve is reportedly preparing to announce a new version of their renowned tactical shooter, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, over a decade after its initial release.
Speculations of an impending release of a new Counter-Strike game have circulated for years, but this recent report carries more weight for a few reasons. Firstly, the journalist who reported it, Richard Lewis, has a credible history, having confirmed in 2015 that a major professional CS:GO team had deliberately thrown a match.
Secondly, there is supporting evidence to back his claims. Earlier this month, some CS:GO fans discovered references to “csgo2.exe” and “cs2.exe” in Nvidia’s GPU drivers dating back to February.
😳🚨With one of the latest NVIDIA Drivers a new Game Profile has been added to the NVIDIA Control Panel called "Counter-strike 2"!!
Apparently it has 2 executables:
– csgos2.exe
– cs2.exe pic.twitter.com/hWsWOh4YKV— Aquarius 🛹 (@aquaismissing) March 1, 2023
According to esports journalist Richard Lewis, Valve has been developing a sequel to CS:GO for a while now, with a beta release expected later this month. Lewis notes that the studio recently held a confidential playtest for the game with a team of professional players who traveled to Seattle.
Sources suggest that Valve plans to begin beta testing with the broader Counter-Strike community by April 1st at the latest, with the top priority being to release and refine the game to meet players’ expectations.
According to reports, the upcoming version of Counter-Strike will feature enhanced graphics due to a transition to Source 2, Valve’s latest in-house game engine. In addition, the game will reportedly support 128-tick servers, which will reduce latency and align CS with Valorant.
Valve has also made significant improvements to the matchmaking experience, potentially reducing the community’s dependence on third-party services like FACEIT.
Engadget reached out to Valve for comment, but they have not responded at this time.
