CS2’s Mission Possible update draws negative reactions from the community

Counter-Strike

May 9, 2025

Leonardo Biazzi

Valve dropped a new CS2 update dubbed Mission Possible on the night of May 7, and while the playerbase had been craving for new content, they aren’t exactly happy with this update.

Additionally, Valve released the CS2 Mission Possible update at a time when the community is unhappy with them. The developer has essentially forced Classic Offensive , a community mod that aimed to remake the original Counter-Strike to CS:GO, to be canceled after eight years of development.

A screenshot of the CS2 Map de_grail, which was added in the Mission Possible update.

Image via Valve

Classic Offensive was meant to come out in March. The mod makers claimed on May 7 that Valve sent a “Cease and Desist” notification hours before the launch. There’s a strong perception in the community that Valve is now against community mods, even though Counter-Strike itself came to life first by the community as a Half-Life mod.

With all that happening, the CS2 community didn’t welcome the Mission Possible update with open arms and criticized how the XP mechanism works.

CS2 Mission Possible Content – Why the community didn’t like it?

CS2’s Mission Possible update revolves around the addition of five new community maps — Jura, Grail , Agency, Dogtown, and Brewery — and weekly missions. The players earn XP for completing those missions.

While CS2 players praised Valve for adding these new maps, they’re not so happy with XP and the reward system for playing the weekly missions.

“What’s the point of these XP, when you only get a drop once per week,” one player argued on X.

“Another uninspired update whose only highlight is COMMUNITY-MADE content,” another player wrote on X . “Maps that you did not work on, but get to profit off of. And yet you are destroying Classic Offensive.”

Even the popular CS2 analyst Alex “Mauisnake” Ellenberg, who usually keeps his comments about the esports scene, took the opportunity to drop an ironic message to Valve after the Mission Possible update went live.

“I speak for EVERYONE when I say Missions are exactly what we needed,” Mauisnake wrote on X.

The Mission Possible update was CS2’s first update after over a month, as Valve didn’t release anything in April. But, from all looks of it, the developer will have to work more to please the playerbase.

Unfortunately, any major updates are out of the question as the BLAST.tv Austin Major, the first Valve-sponsored CS2 tournament of 2025, is kicking off in June. Valve will most likely wait for the Austin Major to conclude to change the map pool and buff or nerf weapons, for example.