Differences Between CS:GO/CS2 Platforms Explained

CSGO was only working smoothly on Windows computers when it first came out. However, as time passed, some steps were taken on consoles such as Xbox and PS. CSGO debuted for these platforms on August 21, 2012. With this release, the CSGO series became playable on platforms for the first time. So, did CSGO create an enjoyable experience for consoles?

To be honest, Valve never cared about the CSGO experience on consoles. We can say that it has not been added to Xbox or PS3 with any major updates since its release. This situation naturally caused serious differences between the current PC version of CSGO and the version on the platform. As a result, CSGO disappeared from the platform over time and was eventually removed completely. Nowadays, we are facing a new turning point. The release of CS2 brings issues such as better optimization and better support to the agenda. In today’s article, we will examine the development differences between CSGO and CS2. In particular, the work that CS2 will do on consoles will be very decisive. If you are ready, let’s start right away.

CS2 Release and Platform Status

Most players probably don’t know that CSGO has been released on almost all platforms. It is possible to play CSGO on Xbox, PS, MacOS and Linux without any problems. Accordingly, many people thought that CS2 would make a similar release. However, Valve made a last-minute decision and gave up on releasing CS2 on consoles. The biggest reasons for this abandonment were performance issues, higher input lag and the fact that there were very few CS2 players on consoles. In short, we can say that Valve did not have enough incentive to release the game on consoles.

It is thought that the biggest problem will be serious performance issues. Valve now designs its games with the Source 2 engine. The quality of this engine is quite strong for the consoles on the market. If CS2 had been released on consoles in any way, there would probably be constant performance errors.

Considering all these, we would like to state that CS2 will not be released on consoles for a long time. However, with the release of PS5 Pro and higher model Xboxes, maybe we can start talking about CS2 coming to consoles.

Differences Between CS:GO/CS2 Platforms

If you are wondering why CS2 has not been released on platforms like PS5 and Xbox Series X-S, you may need to take a look back in time. We cannot say that there were major problems when CSGO platforms were released. However, over time, the technical and performance issues have reached a bad level. Under this heading, we will focus on the differences between CSGO on PC and consoles. The differences will prove why CS2 has not been released on platforms quickly at one point.

As can be seen, the situation does not look very promising for CSGO Platforms. The fact that there are no updates at all has made it necessary to play the game in its rawest form. In fact, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the alpha version of CSGO was played on consoles.

Differences That Make CS2 So Much Better Than CSGO

Although CSGO’s release on consoles has witnessed many unfortunate events, Valve is being very cautious about CS2. First of all, CS2 did not launch under the shadow of a big marketing. On the contrary, it was released with only a few marketing strategies carried out on social media. We can also say that the game was released completely in early access. As a result of rapid updates one after another, the game completely left early access and took its current form. However, we would like to remind you that serious optimization problems and technical issues arose during this process.

So what is the status of CS2 as of 2024? What exactly are the differences between CS2 and CSGO? Let’s take a quick look at the rest of our article to answer these questions.

• New Smoke Design and Depth of Field

The most important feature added and improved to CS2 is undoubtedly volumetric smoke and improved environment mechanics. If you remember, especially in CSGO, the smoke coming out of smoke bombs appeared as static clouds. If a player wanted to play around smoke, there were only a few strategies he could do. However, it is much easier to interact with the smoke that forms with CS2. For example, the smoke that forms after a player throws a bomb covers a large part of the area volumetrically. In addition, the environmental lighting changes with the effect of the smoke. In addition, the grenades you throw into the smoke disperse the fog for a short time. If you shoot into the smoke, you can even open a field of view from the bullets.

Especially in competitive games and Esports matches, the maneuvers to be made around the smoke will be decisive in the result. A millisecond movement can allow you to see your opponent through the smoke. This affects the position you will take and makes the game much deeper. Another important point is that the environments are designed in detail. CS2 maps have incredible detail in terms of texture. Reflections look more realistic, while shadows have increased significantly in fullness. The reason for this high quality is the Source 2 game engine.

• Competitive Game Development – Sub-Tick Rate

If you ask what the most basic difference between CSGO and CS2 is, most people will answer Tick rate and sub-tick. For those who don’t know, tick rate is a technical term related to the response speed of the servers. In CSGO, this rate varied between 64 and 128-tick. Especially, many competitive players prefer 128-tick servers due to their fast response times.

If we go back to CS2, you can see that the tick-rate problem has completely disappeared. Valve has ensured that every player has perfect sensitivity with its newly developed sub-tick technology. In short, we can say that tick-rate rates have become completely player-oriented, regardless of the server.

The tick-rate change for CS2 eSports matches has had a very significant effect. Sometimes millisecond maneuvers can be vital to win matches. This did not create obvious differences in CSGO, where the tick-rate was old. However, with CS2, this problem has been completely solved and the game has become more fluid for everyone.

• Weapons and Equipment Changes

In CS2, certain weapons have always been players’ favorites in terms of meta and usage. The AK-47, M4A1-S and AWP are undoubtedly indispensable for competitive games. In CS2, there have been not many changes other than improvements in the appearance of these weapons. We can only say that minor tweaks have been made to sounds, firing and some general feel mechanics.

The biggest change in particular is the complete revamp of grenades. Now, just like guns and knives, we can pick up grenades and inspect them in the game. We should also not forget the changed appearances of the grenades. Although the changes seem simple, they can have significant effects on exciting rounds.

• Buy Menu and HUD

CSGO has had a similar purchase menu since the beginning of the Counter-Strike series. Of course, this view turned into a round HUD with CSGO. However, in general, you could select the category of the weapons and determine the weapon you wanted in this way. In CSGO, the purchase menu was located in a circular area. In this circular area, you would first purchase the category of the weapon and then purchase the weapon itself and start playing the round. However, this situation has completely changed in CS2. The interface has now been redesigned to appeal to everyone and to make the purchase round go faster. In the renewed purchase interface, all weapons, bombs and equipment are now visible together. In short, it will be possible to buy any weapon and equipment you want with a single click on the same page. We can say that access has become easier and more practical in this way.

Apart from the purchase menu, there have been major changes in the HUD in general. For example, your health rate, armor amount and money are fixed in the bottom middle part of the screen. This has made the basic information screen about the game more central. We find it logical to rearrange the HUD to provide instant info and control the flow of information, especially during exciting competitive matches.

• Removed Console Commands

Thanks to the source engine, you could easily control almost everything in CSGO. Console commands are one of the favorite settings of players because they make it possible to customize the game. Almost 98% of console commands have already been transferred from CSGO to CS2. However, we would like to remind you that some console commands have been completely removed from the game. Unfortunately, we cannot provide details about the removed console commands here. Because there are really many console commands that have been removed.

If you are curious about the details, you can take a look at Valve’s official CS2 console commands page. Here you can clearly see what is missing or what has been newly added. For example, the very frequently used “cl_usenewbob” command has been completely removed. Therefore, unfortunately, you will not be able to change the viewmodel animation.

• Renewed Overtime System

Although it was not in CS2 when it first came out, there have been some major and minor changes over time. For example, as we are used to from CSGO, some matches would end in a 12-12 draw. Valve has now eliminated this situation. If the matches end in a 12-12 draw, 3 rounds of overtime are played for each team. The team that wins four rounds in a row is automatically considered the winner of the match. Naturally, this ensures that each match ends quickly and without a draw. The faster and more exciting the matches, the more enjoyable the players are. With this change, we got rid of the boring overtime feature in CSGO. Such updates, which create an enjoyable CS2 experience, strengthen the QA feeling.

• Weapon and Knife Usage Animations

The most important element that made CSGO so popular among players was the skins and animations. Almost every weapon and knife in the game has realistically detailed animations. By the way, there are no knife and weapon skins in the CSGO platform version. Let’s get back to our topic, as you know, every weapon in CS2 has some unique features such as recoil patterns, bullet spread, hit rate and fire speed. Along with these unique features, we should not forget the animations. For example, models such as Bayonet, Butterfly Knife and Falchion knife have a nice look in terms of animation. The animations of all these skins and knives have been made more realistic in CS2.

These graphical improvements have made some skins stand out more. If you remember, some rare weapon skins and knives are worth thousands of dollars. Here, due to the new models and animation designs that came to CS2, the prices have become much higher. In addition, the design, which used to be a little cheaper, has started to be sold much more expensively with new models.

• Matchmaking Change – MR12 Format

Before CS2 was released, the MR15 matchmaking algorithm was actively used in CSGO’s competitive structure. This algorithm helped organize the ranks in CSGO for a long time. However, a new MMR system was introduced with CS2. The name of this MMR system is MR12 and it has been added to the game with some different features. Now, instead of a 16-round series in the game, each match will consist of 13 rounds. We can say that this 13-round match series is similar to Valorant. Valve wants more matches to be completed in a much shorter time. With the MR12 system, pistol rounds have become more important. The difficulty has been increased for the team that has lost in a row to come back. We can say that every round has become almost important due to the economic dynamics.

• CPU and GPU Improvements

One of the problems that was never fixed in CSGO was the performance problems experienced due to the CPU. The focus of the performance problems was that the game did not work efficiently. CSGO has never been able to benefit from CPUs and GPUs with high processor speeds. Especially for players with high-end computer components, CSGO has created bottlenecks at some points.

With the release of CS2, it became possible to get full efficiency from the Source 2 engine. The game uses both the CPU and the CPU almost 100% efficiently in terms of the system. Although optimization problems were evident in the days when it was first released, updates that came over time have reduced the errors to zero. CS2 performs better on graphics cards with high graphics capacity with its specially developed performance settings. Naturally, this situation has made it easier for users with a good computer to get high FPS. Sudden conflicts, bomb explosions and other actions in the game can hurt performance. However, the smooth operation of the optimization ensures that no problems arise.

• Map Updates

We have now come to the end of our article that we started with CSGO platforms. The last point we will touch on in the differences between CSGO and CS2 will be the maps. In CS2, the maps have been almost completely overhauled. With the new source 2 engine, we can say that the depth, shadow and graphic quality of the maps have been increased to the highest level. Some maps have received much more special graphical improvements. Here is a list of maps that have changed to CS;

• Dust 2: The atmosphere is still familiar and the iconic design is completely preserved with updates such as lighting.
• Mirage: Mirage has continued to maintain a similar map design structure. We can say that it reflects the Middle Eastern atmosphere better with lighting.
• Nuke: Nuke has become visually perfect with the addition of newly designed textures.
• Inferno: Inferno is one of the most heavily reworked maps in the game. The church has been reorganized, the banana has been closed, and the T Spawn point has been redesigned.
• Vertigo: The design and gameplay mechanics in CSGO have been preserved. Only lighting and some improvements have been applied.
• Anubis: Extra work has been done on the water areas and some textures on the map.
• Overpass: Textures, lighting, environmental structures and some objects have been completely changed. This means that the nature of the map has been renewed.
• Italy: The classic Italy map has been redesigned with the innovation brought by the source 2 engine.
• Office: The office building in the snow has been redesigned with new lighting and paint tones.
• Ancient: The successor to the old Aztec map, Ancient features new physics textures and lighting.

So, there is almost no change left in the transition from CSGO to CS2. Although a new game has not been made, it is possible to talk about many important changes. CS2 continues to receive updates every day and month. We can say that new skins, game modes and many more mechanics will be added to the game.