Valve are reportedly launching a beta version Counter-Strike 2 according to Richard Lewis, complete with a next-generation engine Source 2. With the beta allegedly launching at the end of March, it’s no surprise that fans of the game are wondering about the future of CS:GO esports. ESL, the leading tournament organizer in CS:GO, has told Dot Esports today that it doesn’t plan to switch to Counter-Strike 2 right away.
“Our tournaments will continue to use CS:GO until it is reasonable to move to the rumored Counter-Strike 2,” ESL said in a statement to Dot Esports. The tournament organizer is currently hosting ESL Pro League season 17 in Malta and will host IEM Rio in Brazil next month.
Related: 5 best changes we want to see in CS:GO 2
At the moment it is unclear how the transition from CS:GO to the reported Counter-Strike 2 will be handled by professional players and esports organizations. Even though the new product will launch in beta state, it’s likely that many pros will want to start playing it as soon as possible so they can learn the new mechanics and be ahead of the pack until esports tournaments start to use Counter-Strike 2.
When CS:GO came out in 2012, not all players left Counter-Strike: Source and Counter-Strike: 1.6 immediately. Ninjas in Pyjamas was one of the first big teams to commit to CS:GO in 2012 and went on to dominate the early years of the game, setting an 87-0 map win streak on LAN between 2012 and 2013, and winning one CS:GO Major in 2014 after back-to-back second-place finishes.
The first Counter-Strike Major of 2023 is set to be played in May in Paris, France. The $1.25 million tournament will be organized by BLAST and it’s unlikely that Counter-Strike 2 takes over CS:GO before that.
Dot Esports has reached out to BLAST but got no response before this article was published. We will update this piece with any statement from BLAST.
Update March 6 8:44am CT: BLAST refused to comment on its plans for Counter-Strike 2 for the time being. “We don’t have anything to add/say on this topic,” BLAST said.
