Counter-Strike 2 beta rumours: When could the playable beta drop?
Officially unveiling it would be counter-intuitive, after all.
If rumours are to be believed, it looks like we could (finally) be playing a brand new Counter-Strike game sometime soon. Rumours have begun picking up pace regarding what could very well be Counter-Strike 2 and, better yet, its release date and beta start time might be right around the corner.
Without a major new entry since Counter-Strike: Global Offensive back in 2012, it’s about time we were treated to something new. According to rumours, that time could be now. We could be playing a beta as early as the end of the month.
As always with rumours, though, it’s worth taking everything with a pinch of salt. Nothing has been confirmed by Valve or Steam as of writing.
Regardless, here’s everything you need to know about those Counter-Strike 2 beta rumours, including when its start date and time could be and everything else worth mentioning.
How did the Counter-Strike 2 rumours start?
Twitter user Gabe Follower discovered mention of Counter-Strike 2, csgos2.exe, and cs2.exe within coding on the NVIDIA Profile Inspector following the latest driver update (thanks Eurogamer).
The latest drivers have supposedly added "support for unknown app executables" (those .exe files mentioned above). You can see Gabe Follower’s Tweet below:
Richard Lewis, host of The Esports Gospel podcast, took to his Substack page to say that yes, the new version of Counter-Strike is "very real" and "it’s right around the corner".
Of course, without official verification from Valve or Steam, these reports and leaks remain rumours. It’s worth taking all of the above with a healthy pinch of salt.
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When is the Counter-Strike 2 beta?
The Counter-Strike 2 beta should launch by the end of March 2023, perhaps Saturday 1st April. That is according to Richard Lewis, anyway.
Supposedly, the beta will be released under the moniker Counter-Strike 2, but that in itself is up in the air. No one is quite sure exactly how new this new game will be, even if it is real.
What do we know about the Counter-Striker 2 beta?
Little is known about the Counter-Strike 2 beta outside of that belief that it should take place by the end of March, and it will show off the new Source 2 engine.
According to rumours, it will release under the name Counter-Strike 2, but the executables mentioned above suggest it could be a port of CS:GO onto the new Source 2 engine. We’ll have to wait and see precisely how new this rumoured new Counter-Strike game actually is.
Thanks to Richard Lewis again, it’s said that the new CS beta will run on 128 tick servers and feature an improved matchmaking system. Hopefully Valve unveils Counter-Strike 2 or Global Offensive 2, or CS:GO Source 2 edition, sooner rather than later.
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Authors
Toby Saunders is a freelance writer specialising in Video Game journalism. He has a wealth of experience in the field and is published on many different websites including PCGamesN, Nintendo Life and Pocket Tactics. He has a degree in Film Studies (he gets to write about Film and TV occasionally, too).
