Can You Play Counter Strike 2 on Mac? Answered

Counter Strike 2 is here. On top of many of the visual and engine upgrades, it’s bound to bring in whole hosts of new players. Indeed, it will also bring back grizzled veterans looking to stomp all over said new players. Unlike Global Offensive, CS2 is a PC-first experience. Its UI is built around mouse-friendly tables and selection screens, not around a controller-friendly selection wheel. But, in this quest for a return to PC dominance, can you play Counter Strike 2 on Mac? Let’s discuss.

Can You Play Counter Strike 2 on Mac? Answered

In short, no. You can’t play Counter Strike 2 on Mac devices of any kind. Global Offensive eventually added the game to Apple machines, but CS2 will need to get its feet firmly planted before it starts adjusting to a new operating system.

Mac OS is a vastly different codebase than Windows, and I imagine Valve wanted the CS2 launch to be as smooth as any modern game launch can be. As a result, the team undoubtedly focused on a single platform — PC and Windows — as that’s where the vast majority of CS2‘s playerbase lives.

Related: Is Counter Strike 2 on Console?

What Else is Changing in CS2?

As for what else is changing in Counter Strike 2, many of the maps have either been retooled aesthetically, improving visibility, reworking the lighting, and so on, or rebuilt for better play. Don’t worry, though. Mirage still feels like Mirage, Inferno still feels like Inferno, and so on. If a map has received a rework, it hasn’t been to change that map’s identity. It’s only to improve its gameplay and flow.

If you’re worried about your hard-won weapon skins and knives, don’t be. Everything you collected in Global Offensive will transfer seamlessly to Counter Strike 2. And if you’re big into the trading and economy game, I would imagine some skins and other cosmetics might jump in price as their scarcity climbs even higher.

As for gameplay, CS2 is every bit the game you’ve been playing for the past several decades. Sure, there are updates to how smoke grenades work, and there are new UI settings to help you get accustomed to recoil patterns, but the core of the game is essentially unchanged.

Unfortunately, you can’t play Counter Strike 2 on Mac. You’ll have to hop over to a Windows rig. But for those that have a PC, get in there and knock some heads. And by “knock some heads,” I mean take them off with an AK-47 headshot. Here’s how to download it if you jump over to a PC.