Why Did Valve Bring Back CS:GO on Steam
Valve didn’t specify or comment on this decision, which is very on-brand for that company. For the first time in two and a half years, CS:GO is back on the menu for many unsatisfied players who prefer the old ways and the gunplay and feel of the beloved game. Valve decided to bring back Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to Steam without any announcements, which is quite understandable considering that this game has been dead since the last official servers were shut down back in 2024. We should mention that the game was playable in the past few years, at least via private matches with bots, but all of that had to be executed with a bunch of quirky workarounds. Players had to navigate via CS2’s beta settings just to access the CS:GO Legacy with no official servers. You couldn’t just boot up Steam and click on the CS:GO icon for it to magically appear. Now, you can easily launch CS:GO and play with bots or join community-led servers. It is only right that Valve brought CS:GO back, considering that the previous iterations have always been present on Steam, including Source, Condition Zero and even 1.6. This move by Valve can be seen as their way to preserve the legendary game that garnered millions of fans around the world and to separate CS:GO and CS2 as two completely different entities despite all the similarities they bear. Also, it is a great way to satisfy the gamers’ nostalgia by giving players a chance to come back to the old game without having to put in the effort into running official servers and keeping maintenance. A win-win situation for all camps in a way.
What's Missing From CS:GO
Before getting too excited about returning to your beloved game, we must mention a few important caveats that come with the return of CS:GO. Take into consideration that Valve’s main breadwinner game is CS2 and it will stay this way for years to come. CS:GO is just an afterthought and don’t expect any sort of support or future updates. Here are some of the shortcomings of CS:GO in 2026:
Official matchmaking is missing. Valve no longer provides official Competitive and Casual servers. The only way to play with real opponents is through community servers.
Inventory is no longer accessible. You have the good ol’ buy wheel during the game, but can no longer access your old skins and other inventory items.
We have previously mentioned that the game is not searchable via Steam client. Again, it is not an issue when you can easily find the game via any search engine on the Internet.
In order to play on community servers, one has to either grab an IP address manually or use a clunky server browser.
Think of this return as more of a legacy preservation. Valve decided not to let this game fall into oblivion, and that’s good enough for many players who hold dear the years spent in CS:GO. If these downsides don’t scare you, here’s a full rundown on how to play Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in 2026.
How To Play CS:GO in 2026?
This part is quite easy – head over to the game’s official Steam page. Unfortunately, Steam delisted the game from its search engine, meaning that if you search for CS:GO on Steam, it won’t appear in the results. It is no big deal, because you can either click the link above or just simply google “CS:GO Steam” and proceed to the first result.
Once you’ve got that part covered, you’ll actually need to find someone to play with. And this is where it gets tricky. While you can simply run a match with bots with ease by selecting a respective game mode in the game, it takes a bit of fiddling to get to community servers.
If you have a community server in mind AND you have an IP address of said server, then:
Enable the console in the game settings
Press the tilde (~) in order to access the console
Type Connect and paste the server IP address and press Enter
If you want to browse all the community servers then do the following:
Launch the game and press Shift+Tab together
Find the globe icon that says ‘Game Servers’ and click on it
In the top right corner of the pop-up menu press the ‘Search’ or ‘Refresh’ button
Select a server and press Connect at the bottom right corner
Some players have experienced issues finding servers directly from the game. In this case:
Open Steam and press View in the top left corner
Proceed to ‘Game Servers’ where you can select CS:GO from the dropdown menu
Click the blue ‘Search’ icon
You can connect to the server directly from there
The game weighs in around 32 GB installed, which is a considerably leaner package compared to CS2’s 58 GBs. We think a lot of players who use an older setup that doesn’t run CS2 well, but had no problem playing CS:GO, will be delighted. Nevertheless, remember that some community servers have downloadable files needed to play, and no one can guarantee you if they’re actually safe. Be cautious and only play on the trusted servers with positive community feedback.
The Community Reaction
The community reaction is nothing short of mind-blowing. Within just hours of listing the game on Steam, the concurrent player peak reached an impressive 60,000. As of today, the 24-hour peak of CS:GO is now at 66,099, beating the player count of many other FPS heavyweights. For example, the long-awaited AAA title Marathon has managed to amass a peak of 88,337, which is a strong result, but that rather speaks volumes about the dedication of the Counter-Strike player base. Not bad for a 13 year-old game with no official servers. There’s a huge spike of discussions on X, HLTV and Reddit dedicated to this event, to no one’s surprise. Also, players decided to compare how skins looked back in the CS:GO days compared to CS2 with the new lighting system. While CS2 saw a drastic improvement in terms of fidelity and quality of glove textures, the darker colors in CS:GO look considerably sharper and brighter colors pop more. We have added a few screenshots , courtesy of the X users @RexTribution, @lu_cs2 and @JohannesburggCS.
Ursus Knife | Fade + Driver Gloves | Overtake
Specialist Gloves | Emerald Web + Butterfly Knife | Gamma Doppler Emerald
Specialist Gloves | Crimson Kimono + M9 Bayonet | Doppler Ruby
What It Means for CS2
It probably means nothing. Counter-Strike 2 is here to stay, considering how important this game is for both casual players and pro play. Despite some shortcomings that will probably be ironed out in due time, CS2 is the biggest FPS game in the world right now. What the unexpected comeback of CS:GO essentially means is a proper retirement for the beloved game, with an opportunity to visit the place that gave us so many memories spent with friends and random psychopaths from all over the world. Tell us in the comments if you’ll be returning to CS:GO for a few evenings with your mates.
Write comment