You may never play CS:GO again after CS2 arrives
The CS2 release is considered an update, not a separate game. This might be it for CS:GO.
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CS:GO is quite possibly the most popular game in the world, it certainly is on Steam, with over 1.8 million all-time peak players in May 2023. It’s undeniable just how good CS:GO is, and that makes us incredibly sad to say you may never play CS:GO again after CS2 arrives.
You may never play CS:GO again
When Counter-Strike 2 was announced, it was revealed that CS2 will be an update to CS:GO rather than a separate game. This has to be the case to allow the smooth transfer of players’ skins from CS:GO to CS2. The community wouldn’t be very happy if they spent the last few years collecting skins that will be rendered useless by a new game.
Because CS2 is an update, it is unlikely that CS:GO will be retained for public use. Valve may keep a copy of the game on hand for development and archival reasons, but it’s probably unlikely that we will get to see a copy of CS:GO after the release of CS2.
It’s easy to forget that this update will destroy the CS:GO we all know and love, whether CS2 is an improvement or not. When CS:GO was released, we still had Counter-Strike source and Counter-Strike 1.6 to go back to whenever we wanted to. This time, however, that may not be the case – which is a little bittersweet.
Will Valve keep CS:GO as a launch option?
It’s a possibility that Valve may keep CS:GO active by splitting the launch options as they have for the CS2 limited test. However, that is very unlikely, and not very sustainable for Valve.
This would mean that Valve would need to govern 2 games, with anti-cheat for both and either get double the server capacity or split the existing servers between games. An unlikely scenario.
Will there be any community-run servers for CS:GO?
It’s not uncommon for the community to keep games alive long after the developers officially stop servicing the game. There’s a possibility that if Valve allows CS:GO to continue separately from CS2, the community will find a way to keep the game going. However, due to the reasons we mentioned earlier, that’s unlikely.
We don’t know for sure if any of this will come to fruition, it’s mostly based on logic and prediction, but whatever happens, for better or for worse, CS:GO will never be the same again. If you’re the sentimental type then you’d better enjoy it whilst it lasts. You may never play CS:GO again after CS2 arrives.
