‘Counter-Strike 2’ Data Mines Reveal New Anti-Cheat Features, Announcers And More

Just a couple of days ago Valve revealed Counter-Strike 2 and opened up the Limited Test beta, giving select players the chance to go hands-on with the brand-new game that is not due to release for another few months. But it seems the Limited Test has revealed a bit more than Valve anticipated, with data miners finding files that point to some brand new anti-cheat features, the addition of announcer packs and more.

Twitter user Aquarius, who was one of the leading detectives prior to the announcement and found multiple updates that pointed to CS2 being real, took a look through the code and found a reference to a new anti-cheat feature that will cancel matches if a cheat is found.

The new feature appears to be called VAC Live, which appears to be an updated VAC anti-cheat system that works in live matches. The data found in the code comes from a message that can be displayed in the game, announcing that the match is being cancelled as a cheater has been found. Currently, if there’s a cheater in your game it’s rare they will be found mid-match by VAC, so this would be a big update.

Currently, there is no official word from Valve on any updates to the anti-cheat systems coming in Counter-Strike 2, but they did say more new and updated features would be revealed over the coming months. Given that any information about new anti-cheat features could be used by cheat makers to try and beat it, there’s a good chance we won’t hear anything official about this until right before Counter-Strike 2 releases.

Elsewhere in the code miners have found references to announcers, and the option to equip different voice packs. Dota 2, Valve’s other Source 2 game, has long had announcer packs, where the default in-game announcer can be replaced by people and characters such as Glados, Dota 2 casters and even Rick and Morty. The code in Counter-Strike 2 currently points to four different options, the current CS:GO announcer, a new default announcer, a masculine announcer and a feminine announcer. With this functionality seemingly being added it would not be a surprise to see Valve release paid announcer packs after the game launches.

The other leaks from data miners seem to be less concrete or even believable, with evidence coming from just one or two mentions or files in Counter-Strike 2. One such example is the potential inclusion of the Prodigy map, which never made it into CS:GO but was a fan favourite in prior versions. Another is a very unlikely rumour of a mobile port thanks to mentions of mobile operating systems, however, this is likely not going to happen anytime soon, as Counter-Strike being played on a touch screen would probably not be a great experience.