Counter-Strike: Global Offensive reappears on Steam as a standalone download

By Liam Dawe - 4 Mar 2026 at 10:13 am UTC

It appears that Valve are reviving the older Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, as it has once again appeared on Steam as a standalone download.

Originally, Valve completely replaced Global Offensive with Counter-Strike 2, but they kept it as a legacy Beta you could switch to on Steam to play it. Now, silently, Valve have given Global Offensive a unlisted hidden standalone page. On it you can add it directly to your Steam Library for free.

There's a catch right now - it doesn't work online. None of the online features actually seem to work as the game does not connect to Valve's services. However, you can play offline with bots. Hopefully this is just the start, as it would be good to have all versions of Counter-Strike live just like we have with previous versions.

I've emailed Valve press to see if they can shed some light on what's happening.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.

Tags: Native Linux, FPS, Steam, Valve | Apps: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

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About the author - Liam Dawe

I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly.
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4 comments

hardpenguin 10 hours ago

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That's interesting, I thought CS2 and CSGO are the same game, just rebranded.

I suppose it would be good to have CSGO available with just community servers, similar to CS Source and CS 1.6.

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Craggles086 10 hours ago

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Hoping this is Valves answer to the Stop Killing Games campaign. Which would explain the focus on offline play, but may not be limited to it.

Which could mean it will not be an isolated event.

Last edited by Craggles086 on 4 Mar 2026 at 11:26 am UTC

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sarmad 2 hours ago

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Why would someone play CSGO when we have CS2? Is there anything that CSGO provides and CS2 doesn't?

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vic-bay 2 hours ago

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Quoting: sarmadWhy would someone play CSGO when we have CS2? Is there anything that CSGO provides and CS2 doesn't?

a huge archive of old maps that are not compatible with cs2. also more game mods.

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