Valve says beloved game modes - including Arms Race and surfing - and new weapons will come to CS2, eventually

Fans of Counter-Strike: GO’s Gun Game successor Arms Race rejoice: you will be able to play the popular mode in Counter-Strike 2. Eventually, that is. Valve have promised that more modes, weapons and features are headed to Global Offensive’s full-bore sequel, but they might take a little while to arrive as they respond to what players are asking for.

That’s per a recent interview Counter-Strike 2’s dev team gave to PC Gamer, where the team confirmed they hadn’t forgotten about currently absent modes such as Arms Race, CS’ surfing maps and other community favourites.

“We have plans to re-introduce popular game modes and explore others,” the team confirmed, saying that they would be prioritising ensuring that CS2 has “solid core gameplay” first in order to support future additions.

“In the short term we have been keeping our development focused on the spaces where players spend the overwhelming amount of their collective time. It's a trade-off, and understandably frustrating for players who primarily enjoyed other game modes, but we believe this is the best approach for the long-term success of CS2.”

The same goes for new weapons, which are said to not be a “top priority at the moment”, but are planned for the future. What gets added will come down to offering something new that freshens up gameplay, rather than just adding another weapon in an existing category.

“We'll typically look at cases where players either don't have the right tools to approach a situation, or have only one or two tools available. Where is the gameplay getting stale? What kind of weapon might shake up the status quo?” Valve suggested.

The dev team added that CS:GO’s ten-year lifespan had taught them “some occasionally painful lessons about how to gracefully introduce a new weapon to the game” that would influence how new weapons are added to CS2 in the future, helped by the new game’s introduction of customisable loadouts.

Whether it’s maps, modes or weapons, the guiding light will be what players ask for, as Valve said that it would be looking to tread the line between working on its own wishlist of features and reacting to demands that spring up from players in the community.

“One of the most exciting elements of a new release is seeing, finally, how players approach the game. They fundamentally change our view of what to prioritize and how the future might look,” the dev team said, giving the example that Premier matchmaking is currently the most popular mode in the relaunched game - a complete surprise to the devs.

“So we're keeping our first year plans flexible as we balance our ability to respond to urgent player needs with the long list of other features we'd love to ship.

“It's easy to think about a new engine in terms of graphics, gameplay, and all of the tangible differences between CS:GO and CS2, but to be honest the biggest upgrade is the fact that we will be able to continue supporting CS for many years to come.”