With the release of Counter-Strike 2, excited players all over the world are piling into the game to see what’s new. The long running tactical shooter franchise has a fresh coat of high resolution paint. It also has new UI, effects, and performance that brings it up to modern standards. What you may notice, however, is that Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is no longer in your list of games. Nor is it anywhere to be found on Steam for that matter. So, since the CS2 update, what has happened to CSGO?
Is CSGO Still Around After CS2 Update?
While CS2 has all the markings of a new game, it actually wasn’t released separately alongside CSGO. CS2 completely replaced CSGO. You’ll notice that it has taken over it’s spot in the Steam store too. It’s retained all previous reviews from CSGO and all CSGO skins and items are now CS2 skins and items. This is an approach that some players won’t be happy with. CS2, being a more modern game, has higher system requirements than CSGO. Players running older hardware that played the game just fine before, will now find their systems sweating to run CS2. With CSGO being completely consumed by CS2, those players won’t have the option to continue playing the older, easier to run title.
When CSGO originally launched, it was the successor to Counter-Strike: Source. Valve made it a separate game and the majority of players decided they liked Counter-Strike: Source more. This left the playerbase split between the two titles for a long time. It wasn’t until pretty much every pro player and content creator had moved to CSGO that the playerbase eventually moved on. CSGO became the premier title and players became enamored with opening cases and valuing skins on the Steam Marketplace. To date this has become a huge part of the game, to the point where players even ‘invest’ in CSGO items. Some ultra rare knife skins have garnered over a million dollar valuation. CSGO skins are no joke.
In order to keep the playerbase united and the value of the case and skins market intact, I believe Valve made a tactical decision. It’s unlikely they could have made CS2 a separate title but still have it share the case and skins economy with CSGO. Having CS2 directly take over from CSGO instead allows them to focus all of their time, effort, and growth on the one title. In the long run it will drive more sales for case keys and allow them to not have to split their time between supporting two different titles.
So no, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is no more after the game was updated to Counter-Strike 2. CS2 has well and truly taken over as the premier Counter-Strike experience and players will have no choice but to move on.
