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The Counter Strike 2 release time is rumoured to be fast approaching, so when can you get your hands on the new game? First person shooter fans are prepping for what looks set to be the release to the unexpected sequel to one of the most famous names in PC shooters – Counter Strike 2. This article is being constantly updated by our news team.
Revealed and soft-launched into early access earlier this year, it now looks almost certain that the new game – which promises a bunch of upgrades and will be a free upgrade that replaces CSGO as the go-to CS experience – will launch today thanks to teases from developer Valve’s official social media accounts, plus a promise from its original announcement that the Counter Strike 2 release date would be Summer 2023. Now at the tail end of September, summer is all but over, it seems it’s now time for Valve to make good on that promise.
Further confirmation of the imminent release came in the form of Twitch removing CSGO as a game from the platform just a couple of days ago. Now, on the CS Reddit, memes praising the last game and preparing for the new one are appearing as the community seems ready for a new era of Counter Stirke.
But when can you start playing? Though we’ve not had an official announcement from Valve, we can make an educated guess. That’s exactly what a lot of eager CS fans on Steam have been doing. We will be regularly updating this article to make sure the newest and most relevant information is captured.
Counter Strike 2 release time
The official CS2 Twitter account has now released a short clip announcing the release of CS2 at 9:45pm BST / 1:45pm PT / 4:45 pm ET. The clip also displayed several iconic CS:GO tournament scenes throughout the years before eventually displaying the words that every FPS fan had been waiting for. That said, you can finally download the game and start playing competitively with other gamers!
We originally predicted that Counter Strike 2 will launch at 6pm BST/10am PT/1pm ET. The main reason for this is that this is the usual time that Steam has its daily refresh – and is often considered the start of the day for Valve. Counter Strike 2 is developed by Valve, who also develop Steam, so it stands to reason that the start of its day would happen around the same time.
At the time of writing, however, 6pm and 7pm has been and gone and so far there’s not been any peep from the official account, so it seems they’re keeping us in suspense a little while longer. The latest update is that the account is starting to tweet ‘goodbye’ themed memes – which means we could be moments away from the reveal.
Valve had dropped some incredibly heavy hints that Counter Strike 2 will release today. Just last week, it tweeted the question “What are you doing next Wednesday?” to fans, starting off the hype train.
Now, in the last 24 hours, it’s also updated its Twitter header picture on the official Counter Strike Twitter account to the classic meme from The Legend of Zelda Majora’s Mask, reading “Dawn of the Final Day” – indicating something big is about to go down.
As of 5:30pm UK time on September 27, those cheeky scamps updated their header once more, with the next card from Zelda, reading Dawn of A New Day, so obviously something is now right around the corner.
We also have to caveat that at this juncture we don’t know if this will be a full ‘launch’ or some kind of beta or early access, although up until now the game had already been in a ‘Limited Test’ state, with certain owners of Counter Strike Global Offensive being invited in. However, only a limited number of maps were available, and these rotated based on what Valve wanted to test over recent months. It’s believed that whatever this launch will be, it’ll include a lot more complete version of the game with most, if not all, the intended launch content. We don’t have long to find out.
As of 8:00pm UK time, reports of the CS:GO servers being down are coming in across all of X. This could very well signify the beginning of the end for CS:GO, and the preparation for the official launch of Counter Strike 2. There hasn’t been any official announcement around this downtime, but in the recent past, this has occurred when the CS2 limited beta was being updated. We’ll just have to wait and see what’s on the other side when the servers come back up.
At 8:25pm UK time, the @CS2newsupdate X account posted a screenshot showing CS:GO servers across the globe being brought offline. This confirms that there’s something big on the horizon and that the inability to connect to the CS:GO network was not just a coincidence. Once again, we don’t have any confirmation that this is the official launch for CS2, but this is a pretty good indication of that. We’ll just wait and see where we end up in a short while.
As of 9pm UK time, neither the official CS2 account nor the CS2newsupdate profile have provided any new details on the release of the highly anticipated follow-up. Servers remain down at the time of writing, though, so it may only be a matter of time until the sequel gets released. In the meantime, we recommend checking out our CS2 128 tick servers, CS2 cheats, and CS2 maps pages so you can learn more ahead of time.
At 9:45pm UK time, the game’s official Twitter account released another clip signifying the release of CS2. The short video displayed several scenes of CS:GO tournaments throughout the years being shown on an old school monitor. Towards the end, it stated that the CS2 was finally available on Steam for free. That said, you can finally download it and play to your heart’s content!
For more on the game, check out our Best CS2 graphics settings to fix low FPS, stuttering and input lag guide or our picks for the best laptop for Counter Strike 2 – top picks for playing CS2. If you’re on the lookout for a little bit of an emotional tug, how about having a read through our thoughts on the heartfelt tributes to CS:GO ahead of its impending doom.
Counter Strike 2 expected release time FAQ
What time is CS2 releasing?
The game officially released at 9:45 pm BST after CS:GO servers went down for almost two hours.
Is Counter Strike 2 out now?
Yes. At the time of writing CS2 is out. If you’re unable to get into the game, check out our guide on how to fix the “CS2 Executable missing error“.
