CS2 officially launched on Sept. 27 and, as a result, replaced CS:GO’s app on Steam. Though it looks like Valve has nuked CS:GO forever, the community found a way to keep playing it on PC.
We’re not sure how long this method will be active, but as of Sept. 28, it is working perfectly. The only way to play CS:GO on PC right now is to download the “csgo_demo_viewer – 1.38.7.9” beta version on Steam. Although it’s impossible to play on the official servers, you can create a dedicated server to play with your friends or simply play against bots.
If you’re interested in still playing CS:GO because you think CS2 isn’t in a great state at the moment, just follow these simple steps:
- Head to your Steam Library and right-click CS2.
- Click on “Properties” from the drop-down menu.
- Select the “Beta” tab.
- In the “Beta Participation” drop-down menu, click on “csgo_demo_viewer – 1.38.7.9.”
- Steam will automatically start to download this build of CS:GO.
- When the download is ready and you click to play CS2, Steam will ask you if you want to play CS2 or the demo viewer version of CS:GO.
It remains unclear if Valve will keep this version of CS:GO active so people can set up dedicated servers in the same way they do with Counter-Strike: Source and Counter-Strike: 1.6. These games are much older than CS:GO and you can still play them.