What platforms did CS:GO launch on?

Four. Valve's own CS:GO FAQ page at the time answered the question "Where can I play Counter-Strike: Global Offensive?" with PS3, Xbox 360, PC and Mac. A Linux build followed later in the game's life. Neither console version was carried into CS2.

When did CS:GO become free to play?

On 6 December 2018, in the same update that added the Danger Zone battle royale mode. Valve's announcement also upgraded every existing owner to Prime Status and gave them a commemorative Loyalty Badge.

When was CS2 announced?

On 22 March 2023, when Valve published "The Next Era of Counter-Strike" and started the Counter-Strike 2 Limited Test. Valve uses that same date as a reference point in its own support documentation.

When did CS2 replace CS:GO?

On 27 September 2023. Valve's release notes for that day open with the line that Counter-Strike 2 is now available and free to play. CS:GO had run for eleven years and one month.

Why does Steam still show 21 August 2012 for Counter-Strike 2?

Because CS2 was not a new product. It took over the existing Steam app rather than launching beside CS:GO, so the store page kept the original 2012 release date, the review history and everyone's inventories. The name changed; the app did not.

When Did CS:GO Come Out?

21 August 2012 — and the eleven years that ended when CS2 took the same Steam app over

TL;DR

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive released on 21 August 2012. It launched on four platforms at once — PC, Mac, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 — went free to play on 6 December 2018, and was replaced in place by Counter-Strike 2 on 27 September 2023. Steam still shows the 2012 date on the CS2 store page, because CS2 inherited the app rather than replacing it with a new one.

The date is easy to get wrong because there are three plausible answers floating around: the beta, the PC launch, and the console launches. The one that matters is Tuesday 21 August 2012. Valve published its "Now Available" Steam announcement for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive that day, and had spent the previous week telling beta players to prepare for release on August 21st.

The confusing part is what Steam shows you now. Open the Counter-Strike 2 store page today and the release date reads 21 August 2012, because CS2 did not get a new store listing — it took over the CS:GO one. Everything below follows from that single decision.

The dates that actually matter

Date	What happened
14 August 2012	Beta access opened to everyone who had pre-purchased
21 August 2012	CS:GO releases on PC, Mac, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3
6 December 2018	CS:GO goes free to play, alongside the Danger Zone mode
22 March 2023	Counter-Strike 2 announced; the Limited Test begins
27 September 2023	CS2 launches and replaces CS:GO in the same Steam app
October 2023	macOS, DirectX 9 and 32-bit operating systems dropped
1 January 2024	Support ends for the frozen legacy CS:GO build

From launch to replacement, CS:GO ran for eleven years and one month — the longest single run of any Counter-Strike release to date.

CS:GO's platform history

CS:GO is the only Counter-Strike that was ever a multi-platform release, and it is worth being precise about it because the console versions are frequently written out of the story. Valve's own CS:GO FAQ page from 2012 answered the question directly: the game was available on PS3, Xbox 360, PC and Mac. The site's navigation carried three storefront links — Steam, Xbox 360 and PS3.

Windows. The platform the game was built around, and the only one that never lost support. CS:GO's published minimum spec was a DirectX 9.0c machine running Windows XP or later.
macOS. Supported from day one. Valve was posting Mac-specific troubleshooting tips during launch week.
Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Both shipped in 2012. Neither was carried forward, and Counter-Strike has been PC-only for years — see is CS2 on console? for where that leaves you now.
Linux. Not a launch platform. A Linux client arrived later in CS:GO's life, and it is the one addition that survived the move to CS2.

That is the shape of it: CS:GO started on four platforms, gained a fifth, and CS2 kept two. The full before-and-after is in our CS:GO vs CS2 platform differences breakdown.

December 2018: the free-to-play switch

CS:GO was a paid game for its first six years. That ended on 6 December 2018, when Valve shipped the Danger Zone battle royale mode and made the base game free in the same announcement. Existing owners were upgraded to Prime Status and given a commemorative Loyalty Badge for having bought in earlier.

CS2 inherited that model unchanged, which is why the question still comes up — the answer, and what Prime actually buys you now, is in is Counter-Strike 2 free to play?

March to September 2023: the handover

Valve announced Counter-Strike 2 on 22 March 2023in a post titled "The Next Era of Counter-Strike", and started a Limited Test the same day for a subset of CS:GO players. Valve later used that exact date as a boundary in its own refund documentation, which is a useful confirmation that 22 March is the official announcement date rather than the date the rumours peaked.

CS2 launched on 27 September 2023. Valve's release notes for the day lead with Counter-Strike 2 being available and free to play, and the accompanying blog post — headed "Welcome Home" — described it as the largest technical leap forward in Counter-Strike's history.

The engine change underneath all of that is why it could not ship as an ordinary update; our what engine is CS2 built on? page covers Source 2 and what it changed.

Why CS:GO disappeared instead of sitting alongside CS2

This is the part people remember most bitterly, and it follows from the app decision. CS2 did not launch as a separate product. It replaced the contents of Steam app 730, so:

Inventories, Prime status and match history carried across automatically — nothing needed migrating.
The store page kept its 2012 release date and its accumulated reviews.
CS:GO stopped being something you could queue into, because there was no longer a CS:GO to launch.
A frozen legacy build was left behind on a Steam beta branch for players whose hardware could not run CS2 — with support for it ending on 1 January 2024.

Shortly after the handover, Valve also ended support for macOS, DirectX 9 and 32-bit operating systems, which raised the floor for who could play at all. The current spec is in our CS2 system requirements page, and everything Valve has shipped since is tracked in CS2 patch notes.

Frequently Asked Questions

When did CS:GO come out?: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive released on 21 August 2012. Valve posted its "Now Available" Steam announcement that day, and the Steam store still lists 21 August 2012 as the release date for the app — even though that app is now called Counter-Strike 2.
What platforms did CS:GO launch on?: Four. Valve's own CS:GO FAQ page at the time answered the question "Where can I play Counter-Strike: Global Offensive?" with PS3, Xbox 360, PC and Mac. A Linux build followed later in the game's life. Neither console version was carried into CS2.
When did CS:GO become free to play?: On 6 December 2018, in the same update that added the Danger Zone battle royale mode. Valve's announcement also upgraded every existing owner to Prime Status and gave them a commemorative Loyalty Badge.
When was CS2 announced?: On 22 March 2023, when Valve published "The Next Era of Counter-Strike" and started the Counter-Strike 2 Limited Test. Valve uses that same date as a reference point in its own support documentation.
When did CS2 replace CS:GO?: On 27 September 2023. Valve's release notes for that day open with the line that Counter-Strike 2 is now available and free to play. CS:GO had run for eleven years and one month.
Why does Steam still show 21 August 2012 for Counter-Strike 2?: Because CS2 was not a new product. It took over the existing Steam app rather than launching beside CS:GO, so the store page kept the original 2012 release date, the review history and everyone's inventories. The name changed; the app did not.