Vratislav Holub Fans of the Counter-Strike game series finally got it after a long wait. The company Valve has officially revealed the successor in the form of Counter-Strike 2, which we could describe as a very fundamental improvement coming after Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Undoubtedly, the biggest step forward will come from the switch to the newer Source 2 game engine, which will not only make the title itself look better, but also offer a more realistic gameplay as such.
Information about the imminent arrival of Counter-Strike 2 literally flew around the world. This is because it is one of the best competitive games of all time, which enjoys a rich community of loyal fans from all corners of the world. The current king, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, was already released in 2012 for the PC, Mac, Linux, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms, although the truth is that console gaming was abandoned very quickly. The arrival of a successor therefore opens up a very fundamental question. Will Counter-Strike 2 also be available for macOS, or are Apple users simply out of luck? And if released, will the game be optimized for Apple Silicon? This is exactly what we will focus on together now.
It could be interest you
Flying around the world with Apple Counter-Strike 2 for macOS
The new Counter-Strike 2 will be officially released this summer. But it is already opening beta testing, which will be made available to selected CS:GO players. And it is in this direction that the first not-so-happy news comes. The beta is only available for PC (Windows). If you happen to be selected and get the opportunity to participate in testing, or to be the first to experience the future of competitive shooters, then you won't go far with the Mac. But in the final there is no need to hang your head. It is necessary to take into account that this is the very first opportunity to try the game and therefore it is not an official release. This gives apple growers quite a strong hope. At the same time, there is no denying that the game should not eventually be released on macOS and Linux. Valve only states in the Steam FAQ section that limited testing of the game is only available for Windows.
Counter-Strike 2 noticeably advances the gaming experience
In addition, as we already mentioned in the very introduction, the game benefits from the transition to the newer and significantly more capable Source 2 engine. It is in this respect that we come to the question of whether Valve will want, or whether it will pay off, if it brings a port of the game for macOS operating system. From the Steam statistics of February 2023 namely, it clearly follows that only 2,37% of all gamers are macOS users. Quite frankly, this is a completely negligible minority. On the other hand, we still have the MOBA game DotA 2, which also runs on the Source 2 engine and also works within the Steam platform. Even so, it is also available for Apple users, although it is intended for macOS (Intel), which is why it has to run through the Rosetta 2 translation layer, which naturally eats up some of the performance. It is from this that we can conclude that we could also wait for the arrival of Counter-Strike 2 for macOS, thanks to which even Apple computer users could fully enjoy all the beauties of this game series, starting with great gameplay, through teamwork, and sometimes friendly teammates.
It could be interest you
Optimized for Apple Silicon
Although Valve has not officially confirmed the arrival of Counter-Strike 2 for macOS, but according to the DotA 2 title, it is quite likely that we will see an Apple port together with the official release of the new game. In this direction, we come to another fundamental question. Is it possible that we could see a fully optimized title for Apple Silicon? As we mentioned above, Valve has not officially shared any further information. Even so, we can count on the fact that we can immediately forget about optimization. In that case, Valve would have to use Apple's Metal graphics API, which would require a lot of (unnecessarily) invested time in development, which is simply not worth it due to the low number of players on the platform.
Based on this, we can conclude that if Counter-Strike 2 really arrives on Apple computers, it will run through the Rosetta 2 translation layer. However, this does not mean that it is an unplayable title. Compared to its predecessor, Engine Source 2 is characterized by far better optimization, which could actually help apple growers in a fundamental way. I've personally tested the current Counter-Strike: Global Offensive many times on my MacBook Air M1 (2020, 8-core GPU) and the game is completely playable at even more than 60 FPS. The key to success is the activation of multi-core rendering, thanks to which the game can take advantage of one of the main advantages of Apple Silicon - a larger number of cores. On the other hand, there are also situations when the gameplay is not so pleasant. It can be, for example, more graphically demanding moments or some maps.
It could be interest you
Conversely, DotA 2, running on the Source 2 engine with the Rosetta 2 translation layer, runs smoothly without the slightest problem. According to the database AppleSiliconGames you can play it on a 13″ MacBook Pro M1 (2020) in Full HD at medium details at a stable 60 FPS. I myself tried this game several times on the mentioned Air and I did not encounter a single hitch, quite the opposite. The game ran surprisingly clean. It is therefore possible that even a non-optimized Counter-Strike 2 will still be playable on newer Macs. However, we will probably have to wait until the release of the game for official confirmation of compatibility with macOS and any further information.
