We've all heard about it. In fact, it's likely you've been hearing about it for over half a decade. The phrase "Source 2 is coming soon!" has been repeated amongst Counter-Strike players over the recent years thousands of times. Perhaps, though, the wait is nearly over.

The Source 2 engine is already in place in a few other Valve games such as Dota 2 and Half-Life: Alyx. Unlike those games, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has been running on the original Source engine since its release in 2012. The Source 2 engine will be the successor to the game's current engine. CS:GO doesn't require much to run well, at least compared to many other games nowadays, but some users with older systems still experience low framerate. With the game eventually moving to Source 2, we can expect increase FPS in-game, as well as a number of other benefits. Higher levels of graphic detail will be immediately noticeable. Perhaps most crucial aspect of the update is the potential for decreased latency in-game. There also may be changes in audio. Things like footsteps might take some getting used to for those of us who have become accustomed to the current sound of them. Valve will do everything they can to limit drastic changes to things like gunfights. For example, we can presume the same spray patterns will exist in Source 2, in the hopes of making the transition as seamless as possible.

Some people have been quick to look towards Valorant, the recently-released title from Riot Games. The so-called "CS:GO Killer" has had early success with both casual and top-tier players, even drawing some of the lower-level professionals away from Counter-Strike and into Valorant. Perhaps the added competition from Valorant has played into the efficiency with which Valve have been updating CS:GO in the recent months. We haven't seen such a level of care put into Counter-Strike for years. It seems logical that Valve would want to push out the Source 2 update quickly to further please their player base. There is only one issue with this concept.

Many of the world's top professional teams are vying for one of the sixteen slots in the upcoming ESL One Rio Major 2020, which is slated for this November. This leaves room for further speculation regarding Valve's timing with the release of Source 2. With each passing day we grow closer to Rio 2020 and it seems less likely that Source 2 will be released before the Major. It seems foolish to have players compete in the Road to Rio on the Source engine, then just before the major begins to swap them over to Source 2. Players will need some time to adjust to the new engine, and Valve are fully aware that there would be significant displeasure from the professional scene if they released the update in late October, for example. Being that Rio 2020 will essentially take us into the end of the year, it is my expectation that we won't be playing CS:GO on Source 2 until 2021 barring a decision from Valve to give us a nice Christmas present. I do however believe that the majority of the wait is behind us.

We have seen various individuals within the Counter-Strike community claim that they have gotten their hands on some insider information, telling everyone that they were able to find the release date of the Source 2 Update before anyone else. So far, everyone who has posted such boasts has been proven incorrect. Regardless of when the update does come, it will be a nice change for us all. I think after taking some time to get used to it, we can expect the overwhelming majority of players to be quite pleased with the move from Valve.