Why is CS2 dying and how we can stop it are questions that a lot of people ask themselves. So, let’s see what we can do.
Counter-Strike 2 is two months old, which means that the hype is over. Although a lot of players were very interested in playing Valve’s latest release, it seems like this is no longer the case. Following the CS2 market crash, we can also see that the CS2 player base is declining. This leads to the questions of why is CS2 dying and how we can stop it. There are several important things we need to talk about, so let’s dive in.
Why is CS2 dying?
CS2 is dying is a common statement you can find if you take a look at some of the places where people talk about this game. To be honest, some players have been saying the same thing about CS:GO for many years, but the truth was that the game was always popular.
Going back to Counter-Strike 2, we can clearly see from the Steam Charts stats that Counter-Strike 2 has lost a significant number of people following its release. If we take a look at the Peak Players count for CSGO in September, we can see that around $1.5M people played. The numbers for October dropped to ~1.364M, which is more than an 18% drop. What’s more, the stats for November don’t look good either because the peak players count is now down to 1.225M.
When people ask themselves, “why is CS2 dying”, they will find a lot of information about it. Overall, many CS fans agree that Counter-Strike 2 did not bring the changes that most people were hoping for. While it is true that things like smoke and graphics are better, it seems like the community was hoping to see better changes.
The lack of maps
One of the things that we need to address when talking about CS2 and the lower number of people playing is the maps. CSGO players remember that our favorite game gave us access to tons of options in all modes. Some of them are still available, and the fact that you can play workshop maps with your friends helps. However, it seems like this is just not enough to keep CS2 players entertained.
While on the topic of missing maps, you can’t play a lot of options in the competitive mode, both matchmaking and premier, such as:
- Cache
- Tuscan
- Train
- Agency
- Train
- Dust 2 (for Premier)
People who like the Wingman CS2 mode won’t be able to play things like Boyard, Cobblestone, Chalice, Short Dust, and more. Fans also can’t play many maps on Deathmatch, such as Tuscan, Agency, Militia, and more. This limits people’s ability to have fun because they need to play the same maps over and over again.
No Training Course
Even though this option is not that important for everyone, the lack of a training course is another answer to the question of why is CS2 dying. This was a pretty good mode for new players because they had the chance to get familiar with the game. Moreover, some players even competed with one another and tried to see who would complete it in the shortest time. Unfortunately, CS2 no longer supports it.
Deleted Game Modes
In addition to the removal of maps and the Training Course, CS2 also does not have certain game modes that were popular. Danger Zone is one of them, but the list also includes Retakes, Arms Race, Demolition and Flying Scoutsman.
Sure, not all people liked these CS2 game modes, but there were fans who enjoyed them. Of course, the lack of those modes also means that the maps that were present there are no longer available. This is another blow to the game and a reason why some people do not like playing.
Other Reasons
Alongside everything else mentioned so far, people asking themselves why is CS2 dying should check their console. Some of the popular commands, such as the one where we can use our left hand to hold the gun, is no longer available.
We’ve already talked about the CS2 skins prices (this is a big reason for a lot of people, especially those that invested a lot of money). Aside from that, the new anti-cheat is also really weird. In case you have forgotten, there were cases where AMD users received a ban for using specific GPU settings.
How can we stop the CS2 dying process?
Most big video game companies worldwide realize that they need to listen to their community if they want to be successful. Therefore, one of the things that we can do is to try and inform Valve about the CS2 problems right now. Many of us have done it time and time again, but doing this regularly will eventually lead to changes.
Counter-Strike 2 is an amazing game that has a lot to offer, but it lacks some of the “magic” that CSGO had. The lack of features, maps, options and the low skin prices had a negative effect on the CS2 player base, which resulted in fewer people playing than before.
What’s next?
We expect Valve to take action and “fix” everything in CS2 as soon as possible. We need to remind you that this is Steam’s most played game, so the company has to make sure it offers everything people want to see. We expect this to happen in the next couple of months when the first big CS2 updates start rolling out. Currently, Valve is still fixing some of the problems and bugs that CS2 came out with, so we will have to be patient.
Hopefully, once the new updates arrive, people won’t have to ask themselves why is CS2 dying anymore.
