Rumours are abound that Valve is currently working on a sequel to the ever popular Counter Strike: Global Offensive, or at the very least, moving all its assets to the Source 2 engine that brought us Half Life: Alyx.
The story begins just under a week ago, when noted Valve-leaker, Gabefollower, found an Nvidia driver update that introduced support for unknown executables labelled “csgos2.exe” and “cs2.exe” under a new game profile called ‘Counter-strike 2.’ Curious, indeed.
Interesting to note, there’s a fair bit of criticism in the CS:GO community, with many dismissing the cs2.exe as “old and irrelevant,” stating it can be found in Nvidia driver updates as far back as 2014. Still, this doesn’t account for new ‘Counter-strike 2’ game profile, nor the ‘csgos2.exe’ executable.
Fast forward to today and yet another reputable source, Richard Lewis, an esports journalist and tournament host, has backed Gabefollowers claims by confirming that “sources have reached out to this publication to inform us that not only is the new version of Counter-Strike very real but it’s also right around the corner.” Alas, the plot thickens.
The blogpost goes on to mention that the new Source 2 version will bring along a few noteworthy features, bringing the decade-old competitive FPS into the modern era. These include an advanced multiplayer server architecture that ensures 128-tick similar to rival Valorant, improved graphical fidelity, other optimisations including a new match-making system.
It is not yet clear how this will translate to the esports scene, though one suspects Valve could mirror Dota 2’s move to Source 2, with old and new variants running alongside one another during a transitionary period, before the updated release becomes standard.
If the leaks are indeed proven to be true, CS:GO Source 2 could arrive later this month in beta form, with sources claiming that the game is already in a playable state. Exciting times ahead.
