Publishing behemoth Valve is said to be developing a sequel to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO). It’s reported that the follow-up to the widely successful esports title could launch a beta as early as this month.
Richard Lewis, a reputable esports journalist, has reported that CS:GO 2 is “very real” and is “about ready to go.” Apparently, Valve has already been hosting secret playtests of the new competitive first-person shooter. The publisher is said to have flown a group of players to its HQ in Seattle to play the game.
The report goes on to state that CS:GO 2 may be ready for a beta testing program by April 1st at the latest. Lewis continues by saying sources say, “The big priority is getting this out and then polishing it, fixing any bugs and bringing it up to the level people expect from CS.”
Thanks to data mined info, the Counter-Strike sequel appears to be developed on Source 2. The in-house engine from Valve may enable the game to offer improved graphics, frame rates, and more. Furthermore, the game appears to support 128-tick servers. If true, latency could be reduced to that of Valorant. Plus, improvements to matchmaking are also on the table.
News of a reported sequel comes after a successful decade for CS:GO. The game is a blockbuster title within esports. Although Counter-Strike has built a sizeable community, it was the advent of CS:GO that propelled its popularity worldwide and built the franchise a name in esports.
What remains to be seen is how Valve aims to treat the current version of CS:GO. There’s a chance that the publisher may offer players the choice of which version to play. For a brief moment in time, Valve enabled players to access the original version of Dota 2 after it introduced Dota 2 Reborn. However, a merger eventually happened and Reborn became the main title.
However, CS:GO 2 may follow in the footsteps of Overwatch 2. Following the launch of Blizzard’s sequel, the studio shut down the servers for the original game. Rather than separate the player base, Valve may opt to transition all players over to the new version.
Image credit: Valve
Source: Richard Lewis Via: Engadget
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