The 25th anniversary of one of the longest-running franchises in gaming history has passed with no thunderous applause and no bang whatsoever. Valve only found it apt to publish a single tweet for this landmark milestone, leaving many Counter-Strike fans disgruntled and disappointed.
Counter-Strike launched into beta on June 19, 1999, precisely 25 years ago. For the 20th anniversary of the franchise, Valve launched a CS20 case in 2019, which included numerous skins inspired by the franchise’s history. Though even that was quite underwhelming, it was at least something and not a single tweet celebrating the series’ long lifespan. Fans have been begging for a 25th-anniversary update for the past week or so and the Steam discussions tab was overwhelmed by those asking “where’s the update” since yesterday.
“Is this it?” one player asked on Reddit yesterday after Valve published the tweet. “Damn, CS2 is getting the Team Fortress 2 treatment,” another wrote. Though many were quick to disagree and say how CS2 itself is proof that Valve hasn’t given up on the franchise, something is certainly different this time around. It has been nearly three years since the last operation, and CS2 still lacks the features it had during the CS:GO days. The game has received several major updates but they’re infrequent, leaving a lot to be desired.
Valve also celebrated the 25th anniversary of Half-Life last year, complete with a full remaster of the original game that restored old content and made it “feel” like it was on launch. The company even published a full-blown documentary regarding Half-Life’s development that was over an hour long. It wasn’t the first Half-Life-related documentary as well, as the Seattle-based studio also had one for Half-Life: Alyx back when it launched.
Dota 2 has been getting some impressive events and updates as well, while CS2 and TF2 both suffer from mediocre patches (the latter significantly more so).
Whether or not Valve loves its other games more is anyone’s guess, but many fans likely feel it’s a shame that one of the most influential franchises in gaming history celebrated its 25th birthday with nothing more than a post on Twitter/X.
