Producer/Developer Valve has filed an intellectual property trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office bearing the name CS2, adding more credence to the rumors that the company is drawing close to releasing the highly anticipated sequel Counter-Strike 2.

Not only does the trademark come from Valve and bear initials that would lead people to believe that a Counter-Strike 2 may be on the way, but as reported by PCGamesN, the "related properties section" contains references to two other trademark numbers, which match up to the original Counter-Strike and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO). The trademarks patents were filed this past Tuesday, March 14.

This revelation comes just a little over a week after dataminers uncovered references to Counter-Strike in a recent update to another Valve property, online battler Dota 2. As Dota 2 already runs on the Source 2 engine, it wasn't clear at the time whether this was alluding to a full-blown Counter-Strike sequel that also uses the upgraded engine, or simply a step up for CS:GO to the newer engine. However, anonymous sources of the leaked information had been making claims that suggested the former, including that Counter-Strike 2 would launch as early as inside the month of March.

Going back even further, at the beginning of March, a Nvidia driver update bearing the name Counter-Strike 2 had whipped the gaming community into a frenzy of mystery and speculation, with executable files labeled "cs2" and "csgos2", again an unclear reference to a CS:GO update or a complete Counter-Strike sequel. Just over two weeks later, the trademark information filed earlier this week seems to suggest that Valve is actually brining the sequel to light, although the company still hasn't acknowledged its existence.



Counter-Strike fans as a group seem ravenous for new content. After rumors started circulating again last week, CS:GO hit its highest consecutive player count ever, topping 1.4 million players at one time. Forbes has even reported that some fans had been expecting the sequel to suddenly make its unannounced debut last night based on nothing more than Valve updating the Twitter cover image for CS:GO to five silhouettes of Counter-Stike avatars. According to that story, some are reading even more into it, assuming that the five silhouettes is a secret code indicating that there are five days left until the sequel's launch.

If we do indeed get a new Counter-Stike sequel, it could indicate a shift in focus for Valve. The company keeps itself plenty occupied managing the computer gaming platform Steam, and with the release of handheld portable console Steam Deck in February of last year, it has managed to enter a playing field with giants such as Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, all while running an incredibly successful software distribution platform. Valve is already the developer of a number of successful IPs, including Portal, Left 4 Dead, and Half-Life, but it hasn't released a new game since 2020, so a return to developing brand-new software could elevate its status even further.

Posted: Mar 21, 2023 8:59 pm
Related Forum: PC Gaming Forum