Counter-Strike 2 Just Officially Launched

Valve surprised everyone when it announced earlier this year that it was making a Counter-Strike 2 – and after months of limited testing, it's now available for PC players via Steam.

The company announced the news with a new trailer today, which you can watch below.

pic.twitter.com/SM57ZVCTmI

— CS2 (@CounterStrike) September 27, 2023

Counter-Strike 2 was announced back in March. Running on Source Engine 2, the same game engine used on other Valve games including Dota 2 and Half-Life: Alyx, Counter-Strike 2 is not a separate sequel to the original game but rather a major free update to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

As we have previously seen, Counter-Strike provides a graphical facelift to the popular first-person shooter while adding upgrades and redesigns to the game's maps. More importantly, Counter-Strike 2 introduces the ability for players to refund their weapons if they accidentally purchased the wrong item.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive was originally released in 2012, and despite being over a decade old, it remains one of the most popular PC games on Valve's digital distribution platform, Steam. Being a good game aside, CS: GO's staying power among the most popular games on Steam is also helped by the fact that the game went free-to-play in late 2018.

In our review of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, IGN said CS:GO is a "top-tier tactics game that will probably share the long-tailed legacy of its predecessors."

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.