They probably don’t teach this in PR and marketing classes. In typical Valve fashion,Counter-Strike 2is officially released as of 4:40 p.m. ET on a Wednesday. The highly anticipated FPS sequel completely replacesCounter-Strike: Global Offensiveand brings graphical updates and new features to the competitive shooter.
CS:GOis officially no more, as it will automatically change toCounter-Strike 2in your Steam Library.CS2is completely free-to-play, though players can purchase an optional $14.99 Prime Status upgrade. It appears Prime Status will feature its own special matchmaking and enable Prime Status players to obtain exclusive item drops and weapon cases.
A decade ofCS:GOcomes to an end
This is the first newCounter-Striketitle in over a decade asCS:GOwas released in August of 2012. Cosmetics players have earned inCS:GOwill automatically update to their newCounter-Strike 2version, making it a seamless upgrade for all players. However, new players can download right away and jump in and start playing as well.
Also, according to the newSteam Page,CS2is built in the Source 2 engine. This allows Valve to utilize realistic physics-based rendering, state-of-the-art networking, and upgraded Community Workshop tools.
Graphical upgrades alongside new features
Even thoughCounter-Strike 2is technically an upgrade of the framework inCS:GO, there are some pretty big new features in it as well:
A bumpy start
While many are surely excited to jump intoCS2, it appears some players are having trouble getting in. Though the new version of the shooter is technically live, some are not seeing the updated change in their Steam Library. I had this issue as well and restarting Steam worked for me. Before I restarted Steam it still showed asCounter-Strike: Global Offensivefor me. But, after restarting Steam, it automatically updated toCounter-Strike 2and started downloading the update.
Also, understandable the servers are probably seeing a lot of traffic right now. Hopefully as the day continues things will settle down a bit and everyone can get in and play.
