Will CS2 Be Available on PlayStation and Xbox? – Answered

Counter-Strike has historically been a computer game, with a glimpse of console availability on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One during the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO) era, which did not go too well. Most players have just memory-holed the existence of CSGO on consoles altogether. With CS2 being released, the “console” question re-emerges. Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X and S owners are pondering if CS2 will be ported to consoles. We’re here to clarify the matters regarding the subject.

Will Valve Release CS2 for Consoles?

Currently, Valve’s stance is that CS2 won’t be released on consoles (PS5 and Xbox X|S) and that they will focus on maintaining Counter-Strike 2 on PC and Linux only. This means Mac users are also left out because CS2 won’t be available on Mac either. The official statement can be found here. Valve is bragging that CS2 is the “biggest technological leap” in Counter-Strike history, but the reasons behind this decision are unclear.

Why Won’t CS2 Arrive on Consoles (PS and Xbox)?

We would be drifting deep into the speculation or conspiracy territory if we said anything regarding the matter, but the rumor mill on various community platforms provides the following opinions:

• Cross-platform matchmaking would not be fair and balanced.
• Console-only matchmaking would be underwhelming due to low amount of players.
• Valve, perhaps, wants to have full control over the case opening microtransactions and community market, or these features would not function as intended on consoles due to the PlayStation store and Microsoft store being involved in the process.
• Valve, perhaps, considers that CS2 would not be popular on consoles and it would not be worth it to maintain so many different versions of the game for different platforms.
• The patch approval process is different on platforms Valve doesn’t own, which would cause delays with updates on consoles. And we know how often Valve updates CS2 right now.

If you decide to play CS2 on PC, here’s our guide on how to rank up in CS2.