author: Conrad Hazi
CS:GO Unlikely to Switch to Source 2
According to reports early in the year, Valve planned to release an update for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in May, switching the game engine to Source 2. As leaks suggest, compatibility issues with player-created content were the main reason for abandoning the idea. At least for a while...
- Tyler McVicker from Valve News Network reports that CS:GO's developers have suspended work on moving the game to Source 2 engine.
- Reports from the beginning of the year suggested that the game was to receive a powerful update in May.
- The problem is that it is not possible to easily convert community-created modifications to run on the new engine.
Everything seems to indicate that Counter-Strike: Global Offensive will not see the update of the game's engine in the near future, and work on moving the title to Source 2 has been stopped. The title launched in 2012 and has been running on the first version of the Source engin, originally created in 2004. The technology is not young, so many fans have been waiting for the update to move the game to a much newer technology - Source 2.
The switch was to take place in May
Earlier this year, there were reports suggesting that CS:GO will see an engine update. Tyler McVicker, who leads the Valve News Network channel, even pointed out that it was supposed to happen as early as May 18. Nothing happened and Valve's biggest official fan, with a considerable number of confirmed leaks on his account, explains what went wrong and admits that there will be no switching to Source 2.
"There was a meeting and they made a decision. As of now, it’s not happening. They’re not going to do it," said McVicker.
The reason for such decision by the developers is that changing the game engine is "too much work". The main problem is not the game's port to Source 2, but the compatibility with modifications created by the players. From custom gameplay modes to interesting maps - add-ons created by the community have always been an inseparable part of the fun.
"It’s not that they can’t port the game... they can’t port the community content," added McVicker.
It's not over yet
Does this mean that the concept of moving CS:GO to Source 2 engine is definitively abandoned? It looks like the idea hasn't been definitively buried yet.
"They have no means of allowing the massive backlog of community created CS:GO content to be easily played and ported. If they ever figure that out, then it will happen. But as of now... not happening," concluded McVicker.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is not a young game, but it is still very popular and we can expect Valve to keep working on it. So it looks like the matter of engine depends on whether a simple means of qchieving compatibiloity with community-created add-ons are found.
The change to a new engine, like with Fortnite, which received such an update in February this year, would improve the visuals and mechanics of the game. Source 2, which has been developed over the last few years, would also guarantee better rendering, shadow generation and improved skyboxes. So there is something to wait for.
