CS:GO has long been regarded as the king of the FPS gaming scene. The reason is quite simple; Valve’s shooting game has been almost unrivaled in the Esports arena alongside MOBA titles like DOTA2 and LoL. Perhaps due to this dominance, Valve didn’t feel the need to make any significant updates to CS:GO; at most, they would fix gun and map issues, and sometimes remake a map.
However, just a few days ago, they released a significant update regarding the overpowered weapons in the game, and there are rumors that the game will upgrade to Source 2 in the coming months. Everything seems to have turned 180 degrees for CS:GO, and for someone like Shroud, who has been deeply involved in the FPS scene, he has seen through the reasons behind Valve’s actions.
A gamer asked: “Hey Shroud, what do you think about Valve suddenly updating CS:GO so frequently?”
Shroud: “Valve is really smart, and this is absolutely fantastic. They know that CS:GO is their baby and they fully understand that no one can compete with this game, which is why they did nothing for years, no major updates for CS:GO at all. Until the moment the VALORANT beta was released, they started rolling out a series of updates for CS:GO.”
“Tyler (Skadoodle, Shroud’s former teammate at Cloud 9 CS:GO) told me that Counter Strike is set to upgrade to Source 2 this summer, and CS:GO will undergo a complete transformation. And you know what? VALORANT is also set to officially launch this summer. Valve is too clever; they only update when they absolutely have to. For years, CS:GO was like a peaceful ship sailing across the ocean without competition. Now there’s a rival, and this is good. I’m really looking forward to the new things in CS:GO.”
A gamer asked: “Do you think VALORANT will overshadow CS:GO?”
Shroud: “It’s very possible. I think the simpler gameplay, along with features like characters and more beautiful maps, will rapidly increase VALORANT’s popularity. Meanwhile, CS:GO is a more hardcore game, but we can’t predict the future; who knows, Source 2 and Valve’s plans might help CS:GO compete fairly with VALORANT.”
There is a theory known in business that “competition drives development”; if a product or a company has no competitors for an extended period, it will inevitably decline in quality. CS:GO hasn’t reached that level of decline, but it still needs to evolve for this legendary game to continue to exist.
And Riot Games’ VALORANT is the driving force behind this; it has taken nearly 8 years since CS:GO’s release for this game to finally have a formidable competitor, both commercially and in Esports. Of course, after VALORANT’s launch, fans of both games and of Valve/Riot in general will engage in the same fierce debates that League of Legends and DOTA2 fans have had, but that is part of the game’s development that no one can deny.