Players will keep their CS:GO items in Counter-Strike 2

You won’t have to worry about your precious stickers vanishing

Valve has finally let the cat out of the bag and announced that Counter-Strike 2 will be launched in Summer 2023 on PC. CS2 will take everything players know and love about Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the iconic first-person shooter’s current iteration, and port it to the Source 2 engine. This upgrade will be completely free and is being advertised by Valve as “the CS:GO killer” in a cheeky little swipe at titles like Riot Games’ Valorant, which unsuccessfully tried to usurp the legendary series’ throne.

This upgrade includes improved visuals and UI, a brand-new sub-tick system that supposedly makes the game even more responsive and ensures that servers won’t miss any player actions anymore, and some spicy map and gameplay adjustments.

The smoke from smoke grenades is the biggest example in this department, as it will show some new behaviors in Source 2, such as being able to be pushed away by the shockwaves of frag grenades or gunshots. This could massively impact how players use these gadgets, which are an absolutely essential part of pro and amateur play.

Tests have already begun, so Valve will likely finetune and adjust CS2 over the next couple of months until professional players give it the go-ahead. CS:GO is currently the most popular game on Steam and broke its peak player count records several times in recent weeks, making this a perfect time for Valve to unveil the successor.

One thing players have been worried about is what will happen to their in-game items such as stickers and weapon skins once the CS2 upgrade commences. To make it short: There is no need to worry, because you’ll get to keep all of your hard-earned items from CS:GO in CS2.

Not only that, Valve will even upgrade your items to take advantage of Source 2’s capabilities:

“Bring your entire CS:GO inventory with you to Counter-Strike 2. Not only will you keep every item you’ve collected over the years, but they’ll all benefit from Source 2 lighting and materials.

In addition to supporting legacy models and finishes, all stock weapons have been upgraded with high-resolution models, and some weapon finishes take advantage of these new models.”

You can find more information about the current limited test of CS2 on Valve’s website.