CS:GO released

The fourth game in the Counter-Strike franchise has now been released, a little over a year after rumors started circulating that Valve had begun work on a new version of the popular tactical first-person shooter.

Mid-August last year the first indications of Valve working on a new CS version popped up. Not long after Valve confirmed the developement of a new CS version, which was announced to be named Global Offensive.

Several show matches followed, taking place at IEM6 GC New York and DreamHack Winter, before the closed beta would open in October. The closed beta was pushed back and instead got aired on November 30.

On July 4, Valve announced that CS:GO would be released on August 21 and would have a price point of $15. Valve opened pre-ordering on August 7, and purchasing the game before the release date would grant a 10% discount.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive released on August 21, 2012.

Today, on August 21 at 19:00 , Counter-Strike: Global Offensive got released. The game saw peaks over 30,000 before the release. With the release, which was a little over 45 minutes ago, the peak is now closing 50,000.

With the game released, we can start looking forward to the first tournaments in the game. The first LAN tournament is taking place this weekend in Stockholm with €3,500 up for grabs in SteelSeries GO. Going a bit deeper in the calendar, the biggest prize purse for CS:GO will be found at DreamHack Winter, which will feature a massive $45,000 pot.

Surely there is more to come, including ESWC and others. See you on the servers.