Valve buys CS2 map Cache from FMPONE

Counter-Strike

May 23, 2025

Leonardo Biazzi

When Valve released the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 stickers on May 22, prominent CS2 dataminer GabeFollower noticed that the map Cache now appears alongside the other competitive maps in the game files.

This pretty much confirms that Valve has bought Cache and intends to include the map in the official rotation. The developer usually buys the maps from their creators to put in the competitive rotation and have full control over the map design. This allows Valve to tweak the map as much as is necessary, based on feedback from pros and casuals.

When asked if the rumors were true, Cache creator Shawn “FMPONE” Snelling revealed that the developer made an offer as soon as he released the new version of Cache in March.

“Out of respect for the development team, I withheld comment, but they reached out to buy it on day one of release,” FMPONE wrote on X. “It was a great honor, and I don’t want anyone to think we hesitated for one moment.”

Now that Valve owns the rights to Cache, the developer could include the map in the official seven-map rotation right after the Austin Major concludes in June, if they choose to.

The history of Cache in Counter-Strike

Cache was one of CS:GO’s most played maps. Credit: © FMPONE

Cache was originally released to CS:GO in 2014 and quickly became one of the most popular maps in the game, especially among casuals. Cache’s design favored gunfights all across the map, and players didn’t need to know how to throw much utility to execute into bombsites.

The map stayed in the official rotation until 2019, when Valve replaced it with Vertigo. To this day, Cache remains the only community-owned map that was included in the official competitive rotation.

In the years that followed, FMPONE remade Cache for CS:GO, however, most of the players preferred the original version.

One person also asked FMPONE why he never sold the map in the CS:GO days, and the creator offered a sincere answer.

“Valve previously offered to buy the map one other time, around 2013-2015 (can’t remember),” FMPONE wrote on X. ” They gave the option to keep it in our own hands and ride out the Operations, or let them buy it. At that time, we rode out the Operations because we had total confidence in the map’s popularity.

Which map will Valve remove for Cache?

Even though Valve is yet to confirm it bought Cache from FMPONE, many CS2 fans are already speculating that Cache will join the official rotation soon in the place of Mirage .

While Mirage remains popular in matchmaking, it’s undeniable that the map has become stale over the years. Valve never pushed for hardcore changes, although it’s been nearly 12 years since Mirage joined the official rotation.

With that in mind, there’s arguably no better map to leave the CS2 rotation than Mirage.