As the Counter-Strike community migrates to the new iteration in the franchise, CS2, many find themselves longing for the familiar gameplay and features of CS:GO. With CS:GO’s decade-long dominance in the FPS gaming scene, many wonder if they must bid it farewell or if there’s a way to continue playing it alongside the newer iteration. Let’s find out!
How To Switch Between CS2 and CS:GO?
While CS2 has been launched as a replacement for CS:GO, it is still possible to play a Legacy Version of CS:GO. This “frozen” build of the game has been released by Valve for players who find it difficult to immediately transition to CS2 due to a lack of system requirements.
You can follow the following steps to launch CS:GO Legacy Version:
- Launch Steam.
- Right-click on Counter-Strike 2 in your game library and select the Properties option.
- Click on the Betas tab and then click on the toggle adjacent to the Beta Participation option.
- Select the csgo_legacy – Legacy Version of CS:GO option. This should prompt an update to begin. The size of this update is around 12 GB so it’ll take a while.
- Once completed, launch CS2 on Steam. You should see 3 launch options, choose Play Legacy Version of CS:GO.
Congratulations! You are now back to playing on the good ol’ CS:GO. However, it is important to note that you won’t be able to queue in the Competitive game mode since all the servers are now running CS2.
Despite this limitation, the addition of CS:GO Legacy Version on Steam is a blessing in disguise for many players, especially for those who play Counter-Strike on their Macs.
Furthermore, CS2 is still a game in development as there are many features that are yet to transition from CS:GO to the new Source 2 engine. These features most notably include community servers, Workshop maps and game modes like Danger Zone.
While Valve has allowed players to enjoy CS:GO despite the release of CS2, it is important to note that this facility is not here to stay as Valve has announced pulling the plug on all support for CS:GO (including the Legacy Version) on January 1, 2024.
Conclusion
Whether you’re itching to hop into a surf game or simply yearning for a dose of nostalgia, Valve has taken note of the community’s feedback and has extended CS:GO’s lifespan until the arrival of the new year, 2024. Do you think this is the right decision by Valve? Or should they make CS:GO available indefinitely to the players? We’re eager to hear your thoughts and insights in the comments below!