Valve is offering special treats for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive's 10th birthday

CS GO
(Image credit: Valve)

It’s been 10 whole years since Counter-Strike: Global Offensive launched, and Valve is marking the occasion with an assortment of gifts for fans of the popular shooter. Among the goodies on offer are new maps, a special birthday sticker capsule, and of course, cake. 

First and foremost, the iconic Tuscan map has been added to the multiplayer mix. “Tuscan is available in all game modes, so jump in to this classic map and put it through its paces!” reads a blog post on the Counter-Strike website. As well as this, the team has added Anubis and Breach to competitive matchmaking. Wingman has also been treated to some fresh content in the form of two new maps, Primetime and Blagai. 

The ”10 Year Birthday Sticker Capsule” contains more than 60 designs submitted by the CS:GO community, including a snazzy new “animated Lenticular quality”. As part of the birthday celebrations, until Monday, August 22, those who earn enough XP can gain an extra treat, a special 10-year birthday coin featuring a cupcake and a chicken. Celebrating with real cupcakes is optional but highly recommended.

In the blog post, Valve describes how a decade later, the shooter continues to go from strength to strength and acknowledges the massive support its received from the CS:GO community. “Ten years. It’s a big number, yet CS:GO is stronger than ever. Over the past 12 months alone, we’ve seen more players than ever before (averaging over 20 million monthly unique players), record viewership for Majors (2.7m concurrent viewers), and massive community support with over $70 million raised for professional organizations, teams, and players.”

For more great first-person action, take a look at our pick of the best FPS games to play right now. 

Anne-Marie Ostler
Freelance Writer

Originally from Ireland, I moved to the UK in 2014 to pursue a Games Journalism and PR degree at Staffordshire University. Following that, I've freelanced for GamesMaster, Games TM, Official PlayStation Magazine and, more recently, Play and GamesRadar+. My love of gaming sprang from successfully defeating that first Goomba in Super Mario Bros on the NES. These days, PlayStation is my jam. When not gaming or writing, I can usually be found scouring the internet for anything Tomb Raider related to add to my out of control memorabilia collection.