Today, on the 21st of August, Anno Domini 2012, Valve and Hidden Path Entertainment released Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, from its closed beta prison, and let it loose onto the unsuspecting gaming masses. It’s the first FPS Valve has released since 2009’s Left 4 Dead 2, and Valve’s first new game since Portal 2 in April 2011. It’s currently out and about on Steam, but it will only be released on the PlayStation Network later today; and some time tomorrow morning on Xbox Live.

However, this is obviously not the end of development for CS:GO – only an important milestone in its ongoing evolution. Just as Counter-Strike: Source started out as a rather mediocre release in mid-2004 and grew over the course of 2-3 years, so will CS:GO.

The previous beta build has been completely carried forward into the launch version of the game, and as a matter of fact, the game application itself is a renamed version of the beta game application in your Steam Library. As a result, all stats and achievements that beta testers have attained have been carried forward into the full game, and all active community and Valve servers remain active, and in good shape.

Apparently, there are currently no plans for a launch-day game update. However, we can expect Valve and HPE to start pushing out significant post-release patches over the next couple of days, in order to further optimize the game; fix bugs; and add missing features.

Relatively soon, you will also get to read my text review of CS:GO – it’s been too long since I’ve written a proper “Vic’s Thoughts” piece for you guys. Well, rest easy, for it is on the way!