Counter-Strike: Global Offensive beta release date revealed

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 21 November, 2011

To launch worldwide for anyone with a key.

The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive public beta goes live worldwide to anyone in possession of a key on 30th November, Valve has announced.

Valve said on Twitter "it is important to us to get current players in the beta. That will happen. No ETA on when yet".

The beta is available for the PC only. It begins with two maps: Dust and Dust2, and is designed to be at first a "subset" of the game.

Valve delayed the CS:GO beta, which was due to launch in October, because of feedback given by professional Counter-Strike 1.6 players.

Professionals were invited to play the game and offer their thoughts. Valve's Chet Faliszek explained that their early access was granted because they could "talk intelligently about the game", whereas with the masses, constructive feedback can be hard to come by.

When testing does begin, around 10,000 people will be invited to participate. "After that we'll grow it in steps as we get a test server infrastructure and scalability," he explained.

Valve's relaxed approach to beta timings extends to the game's full release. CS: GO was announced as an early 2012 title for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, but Faliszek said that specifically when the game launches will be down to the community.

CS: GO is based on the Portal 2 version of Source, and requires DirectX 9 only.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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