Can you still play CS:GO?
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Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) replaced Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) with an update, and now it looks like there may be no way to play CS:GO. CS:GO is an older game, and so maybe there are some servers and places that exist for players to play privately outside of Valve.
Regardless of whether you want to play the old game because your laptop isn’t as good or maybe the system requirements are too high, we’ll talk more about this below. Keep in mind that if something goes wrong outside of Valve or Steam, they won’t help you. Playing CS:GO after CS2 took over would take outside sources, which can be hazardous, so be warned.
Is there a way to play Counter-Strike: Global Offensive?
As of right now, there is no way to play CS:GO. According to the FAQ Valve released about the update to CS2, “No. With the launch of Counter-Strike 2 CS:GO is no longer available.” We are very sure that servers will pop up that make the game easy to go to, but official servers are down for good.
You’ll have to wait patiently while players who get access set up private servers if you want the original CS:GO experience. As of yet, Valve has not made any statements regarding CS:GO’s rerelease.
There are ways to download older versions of counter-strike, and it’s not unheard of to get a copy of the older games in counter-strike’s history. Playing the previous game or really going outside Valve corporation and the Steam library is asking for trouble, so expect it to be hard to get the classic version of CS:GO game files.
Can I play CS:GO outside of Steam or Valve?
There are definitely community servers or players who will start their own communities for it. Call of Duty has servers for older games, so CS:GO will definitely have its own servers for players. The best way to find out when one releases is to join a Discord for CS:GO or pay attention to the forums. Eventually, word will spread about the servers and ways to play the old game again.
Private servers tend to be limited since there is always a player in need of server space and memory, so it’s unlikely that these will come with bots or single-player experiences. Nostalgic players are less likely to let you waste server space by playing alone because they are the ones giving things up for it.
Technically, CS2 is just a free upgrade for CS:GO. So while this is an updated engine and overhaul of many features, it’s still not a new game technically. So you should be able to play the older version with active players and a reasonable player count if you can find it. It may be past the limited test beta but it’s not all the way to where it will be.
CS:GO is also very reasonably the peak of CS, and the best member of the counter-strike family. If CS2 doesn’t become the most popular game in the franchise, we’ll see the old version of the game pop up faster than otherwise. Of course, it will be subject to takedown notices from Valve.
