Image: Valve
Counter-Strike 2 is probably launching next week, according to a not-so-cryptic tweet from Valve.
Valve’s highly-anticipated follow-up to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is likely launching next week. After months of closed beta testing and constant promises that Counter-Strike 2 would launch this summer, the developer took to Twitter/X this week to ask a simple question: “What are you doing next Wednesday?”
And in case that wasn’t blatant enough, the official Counter-Strike account has now changed its header to an image of the tweet. Seeing as the game’s vague ‘Summer 2023’ release window expires at the end of September, Valve is cutting it a bit close if it plans to drop the game next Wednesday on the 27th. The company does have a history of making surprise announcements with untraditional launch rollouts, so this is par for the course. The last time Valve tweeted out ‘What are you doing Wednesday?’ in 2018, it made CS:GO free-to-play and released the Danger Zone update, so this is as clear-cut a confirmation as it gets.
So there you have it: Counter-Strike 2 is probably launching next Wednesday. The sequel has spent months in closed testing, giving a select pool of players access to overhauled maps and game modes ahead of launch. Three weeks ago, Valve announced that it would start inviting, “as many eligible players as possible to the Limited Test,” hinting that it was ramping things up for an imminent release.
Counter-Strike 2 provides an overhaul to the tried-and-true gameplay formula of CS:GO, giving old maps, weapons and pretty much everything else in the 11-year-old game a huge visual upgrade in line with modern games. It also makes tweaks to competitive gameplay and tools like the smoke grenades so matches flow a little differently, though not so much that veteran players will feel alienated by the new game.
In case you missed it, Counter-Strike 2 will effectively act as a free update to CS:GO, allowing players to carry over all their purchased content and cosmetics to the new game. You'll probably get your hands on it next week, unless you're busy playing Baldur's Gate 3. Or Starfield. Or Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. Or Mortal Kombat 1. Or...
