Counter-Strike 2 has been officially announced, as Valve confirms the game with a series of reveal trailers.
Mere days after reports threw up evidence that Valve is working on a new Counter-Strike, the firm goes and formally announces it. In fact, Counter-Strike 2 not only exists – it’s almost finished, with a release pegged for summer 2023. We know this because a trio of promo trailers have emerged, each dealing with a new aspect of Valve’s multiplayer shooter. One deals with the graphical upgrades we’ll see in Counter-Strike 2, with existing maps given improved lighting and texture while retaining the layouts that fans have spent years memorising. Next, there’s a video dedicated to smoke grenades, and how they create dynamic 3D smoke that reacts to objects and lighting within a stage. Smoke will also look consistent on every player’s system. The third and final video deals with Counter-Strike’s time intervals, or ticks – in other words, the delay between players’ movements and shots and the server registering them. Counter-Strike 2 will introduce ‘sub-tick updates’, which should ensure more precision during matches. Counter-Strike 2 looks as detailed and tasty-looking as we’d expect from a multiplayer shooter released in 2023, though it’s notable how the colour palette on the improved maps looks subtly brighter and cleaner than they did in the past – a reflection, perhaps, of how visual tastes have changed since Counter-Strike was first released. Counter-Strike remains one of the jewels in Valve’s portfolio, with the venerable shooter still enjoying a loyal following among its players – Counter Strike: Global Offensive even managed to break its own player record in February, with 1.3 million users all logging in concurrently. Previous rumours suggested that Counter-Strike 2 beta could launch in March or “April 1st at the outside.” With the shooter set to launch this summer, it follows that we should see the beta announced fairly soon.
Mere days after reports threw up evidence that Valve is working on a new Counter-Strike, the firm goes and formally announces it. In fact, Counter-Strike 2 not only exists – it’s almost finished, with a release pegged for summer 2023. We know this because a trio of promo trailers have emerged, each dealing with a new aspect of Valve’s multiplayer shooter. One deals with the graphical upgrades we’ll see in Counter-Strike 2, with existing maps given improved lighting and texture while retaining the layouts that fans have spent years memorising. Next, there’s a video dedicated to smoke grenades, and how they create dynamic 3D smoke that reacts to objects and lighting within a stage. Smoke will also look consistent on every player’s system. The third and final video deals with Counter-Strike’s time intervals, or ticks – in other words, the delay between players’ movements and shots and the server registering them. Counter-Strike 2 will introduce ‘sub-tick updates’, which should ensure more precision during matches. Counter-Strike 2 looks as detailed and tasty-looking as we’d expect from a multiplayer shooter released in 2023, though it’s notable how the colour palette on the improved maps looks subtly brighter and cleaner than they did in the past – a reflection, perhaps, of how visual tastes have changed since Counter-Strike was first released. Counter-Strike remains one of the jewels in Valve’s portfolio, with the venerable shooter still enjoying a loyal following among its players – Counter Strike: Global Offensive even managed to break its own player record in February, with 1.3 million users all logging in concurrently. Previous rumours suggested that Counter-Strike 2 beta could launch in March or “April 1st at the outside.” With the shooter set to launch this summer, it follows that we should see the beta announced fairly soon.
