When will Cache be added to CS2?

Earlier this year, Valve officially bought Cache from FMPONE, breaking down the biggest barrier for the classic map to make its return in CS2. Back in the CS:GO days, Cache was iconic and played host to some of the most legendary Counter-Strike plays ever. That’s why the question on every player’s lips is simple: when will Cache be added to CS2?

Valve is seemingly remaking Cache from scratch

According to the latest CS2 leaks, Valve is remaking Cache using smartprops. This could indicate a complete from-scratch remake of the version that launched on the Steam Workshop in March 2025, or it could just signal that Valve is planning to optimize the version FMPONE originally released.

Ultimately, this is good news. That Valve is working on the map at all shows a desire to bring it back into the CS2 map pool at some point in the future, and there’s no doubt that FMPONE’s most recent version was in dire need of improvements. Performance was rough, visibility wasn’t great, and there were so many spots you could wallbang that it was like we were playing CS 1.6.

But Valve being Valve, this doesn’t actually give us any indication about when Cache will be added to CS2. For that, we’re left mostly to speculation.

Cache could arrive in CS2 Premier Season 4

Despite the general uncertainty, for many players, the prevailing theory is that Cache will be added to CS2 in Premier Season 4, which should begin at the start of 2026. But adding a new map to the pool (the version of which hasn’t been tested by players) is always a risk, which is why some think we’re more likely to see it have a spell in Competitive first to iron out the issues before it’s ready for Active Duty.

Perhaps Premier Season 4 is slightly too soon for Valve to add Cache to CS2. But the developer has been known to make rogue choices on occasion, so we can’t rule it out completely. The case for Cache in CS2 is that Valve could look to remove a more “puggy” map from the pool, such as Dust2 or Mirage, or perhaps even Ancient. One of those maps could do with a break, and something like Cache, which is equally puggy in nature, could be the perfect replacement to keep players sweet for the time being. Certainly keep an eye on this Premier theory as we head into the new year.