Valve confirms Counter-Strike 2 esports plans

Earlier this month Valve broke its silence and finally announced its next game – Counter Strike 2. The game is set to release to all this Summer following a few months of playtesting. Now, Valve has announced what this means for the esports scene, confirming that the Paris Major tournament will be the final one for CS:GO. 

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) has been around for over a decade at this point and has been one of the biggest esports during that time. However, with Counter-Strike 2 now on the way, it is time to move on to the new game and kick off the next era for competitive Counter-Strike.

The Paris Major will be the final CS:GO Major.

The following Major will be in March 2024 and the first in Counter-Strike 2.

— CS2 (@CounterStrike) March 24, 2023

In a tweet on Friday evening, Valve confirmed that the Paris Major will be the last major tournament for CS:GO. In March 2024, teams will begin competing in tournaments centred around Counter-Strike 2 instead.

Counter-Strike 2 utilises the Source 2 engine and already has several confirmed gameplay upgrades. Besides improved graphics and a UI refresh, the new game also employs Zero Tick server technology, paving the way for improved responsiveness in online matches. There are talks of an overhauled matchmaking system and VAC Live has been discovered in the game files, indicating improved anti-cheat features too.

The key gameplay change comes in the form of reworked smoke grenades. Smoke grenades now generate a volumetric, physical cloud of smoke that can interact with the environment. You can shoot holes to peak through, throw a grenade to blow the smoke away and better shield off parts of the map due to the way the smoke interacts with objects.

The CS:GO Paris Major 2023 is running from the 8th of May, with the final taking place on the 21st.

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KitGuru Says: CS:GO has been a massive esport over the last decade and now we'll see if it can reach new heights with the switch to Counter-Strike 2. 

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