Game history
CS:GO's peak concurrent player count was approximately 1.8 million, hit shortly before CS2 launched in September 2023. Free-to-play status (December 2018) and Operation Wildfire / Riptide updates were the main growth drivers.
Game history
Counter-Strike started as a Half-Life mod in 1999
Counter-Strike began as a Half-Life mod by Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess Cliffe. Valve picked it up in 2000 and released the standalone Counter-Strike 1.0 in 2000. Twenty-five-plus years later we're still calling them "smokes."
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Game history
CS:GO launched on August 21, 2012
CS:GO launched as a paid title on PC, Mac, Xbox 360, and PS3 — the first Counter-Strike on consoles. The PC version became free-to-play in December 2018, replaced by CS2 in September 2023.
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Game history
CS2 is the first CS built on Source 2
CS2 launched September 27, 2023 as a free upgrade replacing CS:GO. Volumetric smokes, sub-tick servers, and Source 2 lighting are the headline changes. It also retired all CSGO Operations launched after Operation Wildfire from the active duty pool.
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Game history
CS2 smokes react to bullets, HEs, and molotovs
Volumetric smokes are the headline graphical change in CS2. A single bullet can carve a temporary peek-hole through a smoke; an HE briefly clears a full smoke; molotov fire pushes the smoke up. In CS:GO smokes were a flat 2D billboard.
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