Valve teases CS:GO gamers with one other ‘Counter-Strike 2’ reference, this time within the Steam backend

A pair weeks in the past, information mined from an Nvidia driver intensified hypothesis that Valve is near releasing a brand new model of Counter-Strike: World Offensive on its Source 2 engine. Now Valve is mucking round with the CS:GO information on the Steam backend, and if this rumored Source 2 model is not really imminent, then Gabe is simply messing with us on objective.

Knowledge excavator Aquarius, who beforehand appeared in that Nvidia driver story, stated right this moment that Valve added Source 2 recordsdata to the CS:GO “developer pre-release department.” The SteamDB changelog in query is only a bunch of numbers to me, however the pleasure is defined by Aquarius’ evaluation of a change from earlier within the month, which compares CS:GO’s recordsdata to Dota 2’s.

For non-CS:GO information watchers, it is a bit simpler to grasp the Steam backend change that got here subsequent, which provides a “Restricted Check Construct” to CS:GO’s Steam database with the executable “cs2.exe,” which is presumed to both be shorthand for “the Source 2 model of CS:GO,” or indication that Valve plans to only name the brand new model “Counter-Strike 2.” It is not like anybody’s actually connected to the “World Offensive” identify, so I might see that taking place.

Valve has made no public indication of what it is as much as, and this Source 2 update has been rumored for some time, however it could be identical to Valve to drop the information with none preamble. It might go into beta tomorrow, even.

If we’re speaking a few straight Source 2 port of CS:GO, the typical Counter-Strike participant might not discover a giant distinction—in idea, the Source 2 model will play identical to the Source model. The engine improve can have long-term results on the game and its continued improvement, although, and there could possibly be extra to “cs2.exe.” Valve might actually be treating this like a sequel, and never simply an engine improve.

For now, we watch SteamDB and wait.