Counter-Strike 2 released a few weeks ago, and it seems to have started off well. However, there have been a number of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players unable to access the new game, and Valve has announced it will be supporting a legacy version of CS:GO for those players — but during the same announcement, Valve also mentioned that it will be putting the kibosh on all official MacOS and 32-bit support for Counter-Strike 2 going forward.
Restricting your potential player base seems to be an odd move for a new game, but Valve put some justifications behind these decisions. The biggest justification is pure numbers: 32-bit, DirectX9, and MacOS players represented less than a single percentage point of total CS players on Steam, and continuing to support them would mean longer development times and potentially hamper the updates Valve would be able to push out. While this may be a blow for that small number of people playing on MacOS, keep in mind Apple has just announced a Game Porting Toolkit, which will allow you to run unmodified Windows games on MacOS, in a way similar to Proton on the Steam Deck.
Those who have found themselves unable to play CS2, whether through ageing specs or their operating system, do have some good news in this announcement. Those players will be able to access a legacy version of CS:GO until January 1 2024. They will also be eligible for a refund if they’ve purchased Prime status within the game. As is usual for Valve, though, any players who have been banned within the game, whether for cheating, griefing, or otherwise, will not be eligible for any refunds.
The legacy version of CS:GO is a "frozen" build of the game, as it was before it was replaced by CS2 a few weeks ago. As such, it’s best to think of this as a stopgap, rather than a permanent solution. If it’s looking like you’re going to be getting your CS fix through this legacy version of CS:GO, then make sure you upgrade whatever it is stopping you from playing CS2 before the shutters fall in 2024.
