[ MAPS ]

Inferno

• Various bug fixes and tweaks

[ GAMEPLAY ]

• Players who survive the last round before overtime no longer carry their items into overtime
• Disabled Casual matchmaking temporarily to avoid a bug where servers get stuck in the end-of-match state

[ SOUND ]

• Fixes for missing music in Casual mode

[ MISC ]

• Various bug fixes and tweaks to Premier UI elements
• Various bug fixes and tweaks to weapon finishes
• Fixed a crash that occurs when changing audio devices
• Fixed an issue where players who abandon during Premier map voting receive multiple cooldowns

Today we’re updating the CS2 Limited Test with a new map (Inferno!) and the all new CS Rating.

Your CS Rating is a visible measurement of your Counter-Strike performance, and it will determine where you stand on global and regional leaderboards. To get your CS Rating, play matches in the updated Premier mode (our Active Duty Pick-Ban competitive mode) either on your own or with your friends.

Counter-Strike 2: Beyond Global

Additionally, today we’re starting the process of inviting as many eligible players as possible to the Limited Test. To be eligible for a CS2 Limited Test invite players must have CS:GO Prime status, an active official competitive matchmaking Skill Group, and play majority of their official matchmaking games in one of the regions where the Limited Test is available.

Saving Time

Over the past decade, we’ve shipped updates to the economy and weapon balance to trim the fat and reduce the number of uncontested rounds in a match of CS.

Because of these changes, exciting competitive matches can be resolved with fewer rounds. And shorter matches mean players can play more, and more often. So with CS2, we’re moving to a maximum of 24 rounds in regulation time (with a 6 round overtime in case of a tie) for Premier, Competitive, and the Majors.

We expect the structure and flow of matches to evolve over time as the community adapts. And we’re excited to see where they go next.

[ GAMEPLAY ]

• Fixed bullet penetration through players

[ SOUND ]

• Audio mix tweaks and adjustments

[ MAPS ]

• All maps previously shipped in the Limited Test are available in casual and deathmatch matchmaking
• All maps and game modes previously shipped in the Limited Test are available for offline play

[ GAMEPLAY ]

• Dropped bombs no longer sink in water
• Reworked the bullet penetration system
• Enabled bot takeover where applicable

[ MAPS ]

Italy

• Various bug fixes and tweaks

[ MISC ]

• Added more hostage variants

[ GAMEPLAY ]

• Competitive and Private Matchmaking are currently disabled in the Limited Test
• Minor adjustments to smoke cloud shape

[ MAPS ]

• Added Italy to Deathmatch and Casual game modes
• Removed Anubis and Ancient

[ ECONOMY ]

• Unified StatTrak position on both CS2 M4 models to not occlude stickers
• Adjusted sticker sizes on CS2 M4A4 so they no longer overlap

[ MISC ]

• Updated hostage models

[ SOUND ]

• Audio mix tweaks and adjustments

[ WORKSHOP TOOLS ]

• Added support for multiple team introduction variants

[ MAPS ]

• Anubis

  • Removed from Competitive mode
  • Various bug fixes and tweaks

• Ancient

  • Added to Competitive mode
  • Various adjustments to lighting
  • Added missing collision detection to some debris

[ MISC ]

• Various adjustments to C4 animation
• Water rendering performance improvements

[ MAPS ]

• Anubis

  • Improved movement clipping map-wide
  • Adjustments to collision around pillars
  • Plugged holes in world geometry
  • Fixed issues with weapon and bomb clipping through world geometry

• Ancient

  • Improved water clarity at T spawn
  • Adjustments to jumpable locations
  • Adjustments to collision around corners
  • Various adjustments to lighting

[ MISC ]

• Fixed an issue with round restart in the middle of weapon reloading
• Fixed a case where incendiary grenades fail to detonate in water
• Ragdoll limbs splash when they hit water

A Level Playing Field

Counter-Strike is at its best when teams compete on a level playing field and when ability is the only limit to their success.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen professional Counter-Strike drift away from that ideal. The ecosystem has become gradually less open, with access to the highest levels of competition increasingly gated by business relationships.

We think that Counter-Strike should be an open sport. So we’re going to add new requirements to running large-scale competitive events. The finer details are still in progress, but here are the broad strokes:

• Tournament organizers will no longer have unique business relationships or other conflicts of interest with teams that participate in their events.
• Invitations to all tournaments will use our ranking system (detailed here), or otherwise be determined by open qualifiers.
• Any compensation for participating teams—prize pool or otherwise—will be made public and will be driven by objective criteria that can be inspected by the community.

Since tournament organizers have existing long term commitments, these requirements will take effect as of 2025. There will be some rough edges to the transition, but we’re committed to the long-term health of Counter-Strike as a sport and are looking forward to its bright and open future.

[ GAMEPLAY ]

• Disabled Wingman

[ MAPS ]

• Added Anubis to Deathmatch, Casual, and Competitive game modes
• Added Ancient to Deathmatch and Casual game modes
• Removed Overpass and Vertigo

[ MISC ]

• Taught chickens how to swim
• Weapons splash when dropped in water
• Adjusted grenade/water interaction sounds

[ ANIMATION ]

• Improved head animation when crouching while running
• Improved foot animation when quickly alternating between standing still and moving

[ MAPS ]

• Overpass
  • Adjustments to jumpable locations
  • Collision adjustments
  • Various bug fixes and tweaks

Quick link to check who of your friend list has access to the beta. With the last wave of invites I now have one friend on my friend list with beta access…

So it’s 1/66 or 1,5%.

Hopefully more invites are coming soon 😅