Despite releasing almost eight years ago,Counter Strike: Global Operations (CS:GO)continues to attract millions of players every month, and remains an esports fan favorite. Speculation has been brewing for many years thatthe multiplayer first-person shooterwill be upgraded to the newer Source 2 engine in order to improve the dated graphics and allow for better gameplay mechanics. However, a new statement from a long-time Valve fan, with a reliable reputation for leaks and information, reveals that the update “is not happening.”
Valve News Network owner Tyler McVicker made the comments during a twitch stream, to the disappointment of many watching. He stated that due to the sheer amount of work involved in allowingCounter-Strikecommunity content to be ported, Valve held a meeting and “made a decision” not to continue with the port, “As of now, it’s not happening. They’re not going to do it.” It’s simply “too much work” for Valve to justify putting into an engine update that otherwise would be fairly uncomplicated.
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CS:GOwas released in 2012, using the Source engine, designed back in 2004 by Valve. McVicker claims that Valve have had an updated build ofCS:GOin Source 2 for two years, but witheight years worth of prolific community made contentbeing a core part of the game experience, the complexity of an update is about far more than just the game itself. However, he also suggested that the decision could change in the future, but only if Valve ever find a way to easily port the community content.
After eight years of popularity, the now free-to-playCS:GOhad been experiencing a slow decline in users until the COVID-19 lockdowns, which helped the game experience a huge spike in popularity, evenreaching 1.3 million concurrent playersin April 2020. With such a dedicated fan base, it’s not surprising thatCS:GOhas built up an incredible amount of community made maps, weapons finishes, game modes, and more. These are a huge part of theCS:GOexperience that players come back for, so it makes sense that Valve would want to avoid any update that breaks compatibility.
The question remains as to where Valve will go next withCS:GO. It may continue looking for a way to port content and upgrade the game, or it may look to create a new version of the game, and hope that the community transfers over. Given the recent boost in popularity, and thecontinued success of the game in the esports arena. The least risky approach would be to keep working on a way to update the entireCS:GOexperience, community content and all.
However, if a solution to the porting problem continues to elude Valve, then perhaps gamers will eventually see an entirely new version ofCS:GO. Either that, orperhaps the game will remain successfulfor years to come, 2012 graphics and all.
CS:GOis available on Linux, Mac, and PC
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