Following a supposed leak, sources are confirming that Counter-Strike Global Offensive 2, or CSGO 2, is actually real. Not only that, but it could be coming soon.

This information comes from Richard Lewis, a well-known esports journalist who regularly covers Counter-Strike-related stories. Initially, the existence of CSGO 2 was unconfirmed. It was basically just speculation thanks to the discovery of config files in an NVIDIA driver update. However, as the sources told Lewis, it might not be speculation after all.

An anonymous source told Lewis that there indeed is “a new version of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on its way, and that had been worked on for some time.” The source additionally said that the game will release under the working title Counter-Strike 2. They also revealed that the tentative date for the beta is this March, with April 1 at the latest.

The anonymous source went on to list features coming to Counter-Strike 2. They mentioned improved optimization, and better graphical fidelity (although this might decrease performance in low-end PCs). The source already confirmed that Counter-Strike 2 will have 128 tick servers, which brings it in line with Valorant. These servers launch alongside the beta. Not only that, but the game will also include a better and improved match-making system, something that players have been hoping for quite a while.

The source said that the game was “about ready to go”, hence the March window for the beta. They even explained that Valve flew in various professional players to try the game out. This version of the game has been Valve's priority for quite some time, with developers who have worked on previous Counter-strike games working on it. The source also said that this is most likely the reason why some CSGO issues were neglected. According to them, “the big priority is getting this out and then polishing it, fixing any bugs, and bringing it up to the level people expect from CS.”

Even with the release of new competitive shooters like Valorant, CSGO still maintains its strong player base. The number of concurrent players fluctuates from around 500,000 to 1,000,000 players. Probably because of rumors surrounding Counter-Strike 2, the game managed to break its 3-year peak as of this article, hitting 1,378,447 concurrent players. This goes to show that the 20-year-old game still has a strong player base who will definitely enjoy an update to the game.

That's all the information we have about Counter Strike Global Offensive 2, or simply Counter-Strike 2. For more gaming news from us, you can check out our gaming news articles.