Will Valve make Counter-Strike 3? | CS3 Explained

Valve only released Counter-Strike 2 in 2023, 11 years after the initial launch of CS:GO. However, some of the changes Valve made were controversial in the latest release, and many players remain unhappy with the state of the game years later. This has led to some calls for the developer to just move forward with Counter-Strike 3, make another leap and essentially try again. But will Valve make CS3? Let’s attempt to answer that question as best as we can.

Odds of Counter-Strike 3 explained

Compared to most first-person shooter franchises, the Counter-Strike games tend to have a long lifespan before the next iteration is released. Let’s look at the time gap between every mainline CS release, from 1.6 up to CS2.

• Counter-Strike 1.6 – Source: November 2000 – October 2004 (3 years, 11 months)
• Counter-Strike Source – Global Offensive: October 2004 – August 2012 (7 years, 10 months)
• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – CS2: August 2012 – September 2023 (11 years, 1 month)

As you can see, the release gaps between mainline Counter-Strike games have only gotten longer. Valve has increasingly used each Counter-Strike game as a base for new content over the years, only releasing a new version when absolutely necessary. This makes each game in the series a huge step forward, though many players will still choose to play older Counter-Strike games instead.

Because of this, Valve isn’t going to release Counter-Strike 3 any time soon. The prospect of CS3 anytime this decade is nearly impossible, no matter how some players feel about the game currently. Valve has invested a lot into CS2, and the game continues to enjoy sky-high player counts. It’s much more likely that Valve will continue to improve CS2 for many years to come rather than release Counter-Strike 3. After all, you only have to remember how poor CS:GO was on release, and compare it to how it finished. CS2 is a much better initial platform for Valve to build on, and going straight for Counter-Strike 3 doesn’t feel necessary.