Counter-Strike 2 players demand Valve make changes

Since Valve released Counter-Strike 2 almost two years ago it has been the target of serious criticism from both the professional esports scene and casual players. 

Pro CS2 esports players have aimed various barbs at Valve since the September 2023 release, including that it doesn’t run smoothly even on high-end hardware, the shooting mechanism feels odd and that it has various latency issues. 

At a lower level CS2 players have complained about the matchmaking capabilities and the fact there seems to be a plethora of bought or sold accounts accessing the platform, despite this practice being banned. 

Levelling the latest criticism is FalconsEsport and TeamRazer star Nikola Kovac, who said players were growing increasingly frustrated at Valve’s lack of fixes for issues identified by players. 

“Things are not looking the best when it comes to the game,” Kovac said. 

“There is a lot of issues and you know players are speaking out to have it fixed. 

“But Valve is being a bit non-responsive… I would say and they are just focussing on their stuff and they’re not really trying to take into consideration what the players would like to change. 

“It is a bit frustrating but I hope that one day they will listen to us and try and make it a bit smoother in general. 

“We had such a cool game previously… i don’t see a reason why they are struggling with these kinds of thing in CS2.”  

Counter-Strike 2, despite the criticism, remains one of the most popular esports games today and has over 25 years of history to draw on, having first been released in 1999 under the Half Life name. 

The Thunderpick World Championships, worth $850,000 USD and beginning on October 15, is the next major CS2 tournament scheduled for 2025.

Ciaran Jackman

Senior Esports Editor

Ciaran Jackman spent six years as a senior editor at EsportBet.com, publishing nearly 1,000 articles across CS2, VALORANT and League of Legends. A mad esports fan and one of the hardest working people in the organisation, Ciaran was a defining voice on the site from 2019 to 2025.

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