Learn more about Counter-Strike 2 Beta and how to access it.
Counter-Strike, one of the most iconic and beloved first-person shooter games, has captivated players for decades with its intense gameplay and competitive spirit. With the release of Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) on the horizon, anticipation is at an all-time high. Fans eagerly await the chance to get a glimpse of the future, and luckily, Valve has answered their prayers with CS2 Beta Access.
Beta testing has long been a crucial step in the game development process. It allows developers to gather valuable feedback from dedicated players and fine-tune the game to ensure a polished and enjoyable experience upon release. CS2 Beta Access provides a unique opportunity for enthusiasts to be part of this development journey, offering a sneak peek into the evolution of the Counter-Strike franchise.
You must get an invitation from Valve in order to participate in the Counter Strike 2 beta. Following are the three criteria that Valve has identified:
- Status of your Steam account
- Trust factor
- Recent CS:GO play on Valve’s official servers
Your VAC (Valve Anti-Cheat System) standing is referred to as your “Steam account standing,” and you can check it by clicking Steam in the top-left corner of the Steam client, then selecting Settings and Account. Your VAC status will be displayed directly below your email address, and selecting the relevant link will take you to a different website with more information.
The word “trust factor,” on the other hand, has a specific connection to CS:GO. The Trust system uses “observed behaviors and attributes of their Steam account, including the overall amount of time they had spent playing CS:GO, how frequently they were reported for cheating, time spent playing other games on their Steam account, etc.,” according to a Valve blog post from back in 2017, when they first announced the system. This system is called Trust, and when all of these things are taken into account, a player’s Trust Factor is created. Later, it was expanded to incorporate activity related to all Valve games. You cannot see your Trust factor, in contrast to your account standing. This is kind of similar to our own trust factor that we assign to the best cs2 sites when we review and rate them. The sites with low score are eliminated and don’t appear in our rankings.
However, a word of caution before you start toiling away to fulfill that last need. Following days of grinding in several CS:GO modes by certain players, Valve posted the following statement on Twitter.
PSA: Sitting idle on CS:GO’s official matchmaking servers won’t improve your chances of passing the CS2 Limited Test, it states. “Your play prior to the start of the Limited Test counts as playtime.”
So it appears you’ll likely have to wait till the complete release in the summer if you were hoping to get back into CS:GO in order to earn an invite.
Open up CS:GO to see if you have access to the Counter Strike 2 beta. If you’re lucky, the main menu will display an invitation notification.
To enroll, click the notification’s “Enroll” button, and then begin downloading. Once Counter Strike 2 has finished downloading, restart CS:GO and choose “Limited Test” to play the game.
In the upcoming weeks and months, keep an eye on the CS:GO main menu if you haven’t yet received an invite. While Valve has not officially stated a timeline for when additional invitations should be sent, they have stated that “more players will be added to the Limited Test over time”.
Currently, the Counter Strike 2 beta contains just one map: Dust2. You can play either Deathmatch or Unranked Competitive modes, so it’s fairly slim pickings for now.
Valve have clarified, though, that “future limited test releases will offer other game modes, maps, and features”, so expect new content to arrive in the months between now and the full launch.
