Valve / ESL FACEIT Group

Auto-detected content change during sync (commit c167295)

Recorded Aug 22, 2026

Auto-detected content change during sync (commit dfeb511)

Recorded Aug 22, 2026

Auto-detected content change during sync (commit 84da984)

Recorded May 13, 2026

Foundational predecessor milestone for Counter-Strike 2. Valve developed Counter-Strike 2 with the Source 2 game engine as an update to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (2012) — making CS:GO's August 2012 release the proximate predecessor and rule-framework ancestor of CS2. CS:GO operated as the active competitive Counter-Strike game from 2012 through September 2023 (over 11 years), establishing the modern Major Championship structure (originally launched as DreamHack Winter 2013), the ESL Pro Tour, the BLAST Premier circuit, and the FACEIT Major events. Every modern CS2 competitive convention — map pool curation, weapon balance, economy management, ESL/BLAST tournament formats — descends from rule-making decisions made during the 2012-2023 CS:GO era.

Recorded May 10, 2026

Federation-transition milestone — CS2 gradual rollout to the established CS:GO competitive base. On 1 September 2023, the CS2 Limited Test was released to all that purchased Global Offensive before it became free-to-play in 2018 and were active in competitive matchmaking. The September 2023 expansion gave veteran CS:GO players early access to the Source 2 successor in advance of the full 27 September 2023 release, enabling tournament organizers and professional players to evaluate the new game's competitive characteristics before the official transition. The Limited Test also provided Valve with telemetry and bug reports from competitively-active accounts.

Recorded May 10, 2026

Most consequential modern competitive milestone in Counter-Strike's history. Counter-Strike 2 released to the public on 27 September 2023, replacing Global Offensive on Steam. The CS2 release replaced the 11-year-old CS:GO with a Source-2-engine successor and moved every major Counter-Strike competitive event (Valve Majors, ESL Pro Tour, BLAST Premier, FACEIT, IEM) onto the new game version. CS2's release reset competitive maps to a refined pool, reworked smoke grenade physics (volumetric smokes), introduced sub-tick networking, and modernized the matchmaking infrastructure — every CS2 competitive rule, anti-cheat decision, and tournament Major regulation since September 2023 operates under the new game's framework rather than CS:GO's.

Recorded May 10, 2026