While most of the Counter-Strike community is focused on playing the CS2 beta and anticipating which teams will be good in the new game, the professional players still have work to do in CS:GO, according to s1mple.
Before the major update to the CS2 beta on Aug. 31, which added Premier mode and its own rating, you could still see fans talking about the professional scene every day on places like the official subreddit. Now that CS2 seems closer than ever, though, CS:GO post-match threads are barely making the first page.
The current lack of interest in CS:GO matches, though, isn’t affecting the way pros approach the remainder of tournaments. And s1mple said he still cares about the results he can accomplish with NAVI at the end of CS:GO’s cycle.
“Yeah, of course [I care], players started playing more CS2 after Premier, but all players are still practicing CS:GO, they’re doing boot camps,” s1mple told Dot Esports on Sept. 12 ahead of NAVI’s matches in ESL Pro League season 18. “You never know when CS2 will come out and there are lots of tournaments like ESL Pro League, IEM Sydney, a tournament in Shanghai [the CS:GO Asia Championships], and the Intel Grand Slam on the line.”
All that we know so far is that Valve is releasing CS2 worldwide this summer, which you would think means by Sept. 23, the last day of the season. The developer is still working on putting the finishing touches on the game and collecting as much feedback as possible, however.
The only big tournament that we know is going to be played in CS2 is the PGL Copenhagen Major in 2024. Tournament organizers like ESL are still waiting for the full release of CS2 before starting the transition.
