Following the deployment of the latest drivers for NVIDIA GPUs, it has been revealed that there’s a reference hidden within the ‘Game Profiles’ in the update’s code that mentions ‘CSGOS2’ and ‘CS2’. It’s believed that these are indicators of the imminent arrival of an upgrade that will see CSGO ported over to Source 2, Valve’s more recent game engine.
At face value, ‘CSGOS2’ could quite literally mean ‘CSGO Source 2’, but the confusion was heightened following the inclusion of the term ‘Counter-strike 2’, which led some fans to believe that a sequel to CSGO was on the way.
For years, the concept of CSGO pivoting to Source 2 has been lobbied about by fans of the legendary FPS title, but is it finally about to happen?
Still Breaking Records
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a monumental game that after more than ten years is still breaking records. Recently, the game smashed peak player records on Steam, drawing in a concurrent count reaching as high as 1,354,248 users. As arguably the leading esports title, CSGO quite literally holds the weight of an entire industry on its shoulders.
However, even after a decade, it seems that CSGO is still poised to make massive waves within the gaming community. Hours ago, a comment posted on Reddit (and further shared on Twitter) suggests that CSGO may be about to receive some kind of upgrade to Source 2, Valve’s newest game engine that was initially released in 2014 to serve as a grand successor to the Source engine.
Other Valve-powered titles, such as Dota 2, run on Source 2, but despite being the firm’s flagship multiplayer title, CSGO remains on Source, which is almost two decades old and somewhat outdated – even if it does still work remarkably well to retain players.
Last year, Twitter user aquaismissing – the author of the above-mentioned tweet – originally claimed that their sources had revealed that CSGO would be upgraded to run on Source 2 in Q1 of 2023. Given that we’re still within that window, it could still turn out to have been a reliable tip.
Although, fans were quick to speculate that if CSGO was upgraded to Source 2, it wouldn’t be an instant transition. Instead, Valve would likely release the upgraded product as a beta, in order to gather information and feedback, test the waters, and then potentially consider a global rollout of a more polished version.
Let’s wait and see if this ten-year-old game will receive a serious upgrade in the coming weeks.
For more Insider Gaming news, check out our coverage of the hiring taking place within The Coalition, Gears of War’s developer.
