A formal plea for Arms Race’s Future

Dear Valve,

330 days, that’s how long it has been since you added Shoots (Night) to the Arms Race map pool. An appreciated addition but not even a new map layout.

884 days, that’s how long it has been since CS2 added arms race as a game mode. I will admit, I did not play CS2 until Arms Race was added, it is my favorite mode by far. Many CS:GO and CS2 players loved arms race for the alternative it provided to the traditional Counterstrike environment.

1,205 days, that’s how long it has been since Valve released promotional images of Lake in CS2. The last news we received on a new arms race map.

As the days tick by, my hope for ever seeing Safehouse, Lake, and Monastery in CS2 slowly wane.

I don’t ask for you to do or make exactly what I ask, I just ask you provide transparency on content releases. I’ve been a regular player since Operation Bloodhound back in 2015, and the game has never felt more lifeless, corporate, and impersonal like the money grab it has become.

I sold my inventory worth 5 figures once I realized that the qualities of the game I fell in love with were gone.

Arms race is irrelevant to CS2 in the grand scheme of the game, but Valve’s attitude towards CS2 is reflected by its abandonment.

I never cared when I had no money as a teen/young adult spending all my money on skins in my favorite game, but when you began to neglect all content in the game you deemed “non-popular” and instead focus on selling me a Fortnite battle pass and protect bots who autokick me from games? I’ll take my time and money to another game.

Signed,

A jilted and disappointed former counter-strike junkie.