Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is now back on Steam as a separate entity to Counter-Strike 2

Having lived in the latter's beta branches for the past few years

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has its own dedicated Steam listing once more, separate from follow-up Counter-Strike 2, which was neatly slotted over the top of CS:GO on release a few years ago.

This isn't technically a full-blown return from hiatus for CS:GO, as it's been playable at least in terms of private matches against bots via a beta branch of Counter-Strike 2 since 2023. That's a fairly nondescript life to lead, though, so it's nice to see the classic shooter move out onto its own dedicated page once more.

Albeit, it's a page which notes: "At the request of the publisher, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is unlisted on the Steam store and will not appear in search". Curious, especially since the original Counter-Strike's Steam page hasn't has a similar search restriction applied.

If you're hoping this new page means CS:GO's online servers have been brought back online so you can rush B against mates rather than bots, sadly it looks like that isn't the case. This is the same bot battle-only version of the shooter you can access through CS2's beta branches. Though, it does seem like it'll save folks who just want to play CS:GO a bit of storage space, with the standalone version taking up roughly 32GB compared to the 57GB CS2 needs.

I've reached out to Valve for comment, in case the publishers have any more context to share regarding why they've opted to wheel out this separate CS:GO listing now and with what looks like little to none of the marketing fanfare you might expect if it's been done specifically for preservation purposes.

Well, I say little fanfare, the new listing's amassed 8,000 or so Steam reviews since it popped up. Most of them are folks either reminiscing about why they loved the shooter or believe it superior to usurper CS2. "It feels strange to see this page again, like walking through an empty house where you once lived your best years," one wordsmith put it. "The spray patterns, the 1v4 clutches that made your heart race, the 'Rush B' screams in the middle of the night, and the friendships forged...all of that is still here, even if the servers are quiet now. CS:GO wasn't just a game. It was the noise that filled our silence for a decade."

If nothing else, it's nice to see folks given a place to eulogise Global Offensive that doesn't simply inflate that gargantuan amount of reviews left over the years on the page CS2 now inhabits.