With a vague "Summer 2023" release date approaching, Valve continues to casually announce major changes to the tactical FPS on Twitter. The latest is a meaningful change to the purchase screen: the CS2 purchase screen will follow Valorant's lead and allow players to refund their purchases before the purchase phase ends (you can see it in action below). You will also notice that Valve has done away with the weapon wheel in favor of Valorant's gun grid.

The even bigger news is that Valve will implement loadouts in CS2, where players will be able to choose from four pistols, five "intermediate" guns (SMGs/shotguns), and five rifles to create their personal purchase menu.

These total of 15 guns (including the starter pistol) would be the only guns available during the match, meaning that two to three guns must be left in each category. While loadouts are technically more limited than CS:GO's existing purchase screen, they also allow you to assign gun combinations that were previously impossible. For example, instead of having to choose between a silenced M4A1-S or M4A4, you will now be able to bring both.

Deciding which guns to keep on the purchase menu could also be an economic strategy in CS2. Under a loadout system, a frugal purchase screen could be constructed that forgoes AWP altogether in favor of more affordable options; how would a competitive team of five use loadouts to complement their respective roles on a particular map?

There may be other motivations for Valve to set a strict limit of 15 guns. My guess is that this new system lays the groundwork for Valve to add more (perhaps more) guns to Counter-Strike 2 over time. Counter-Strike players are generally opposed to major gameplay changes, and the few weapons added to CS:GO, like the R8 revolver, did not significantly disrupt the meta.

But for Valve, faced with the prospect of using the same maps and guns for another decade, new rifles, pistols, and throwables would be an effective way to destroy CS's calcified meta. Valve has taken this approach over hundreds of patches with Team Fortress 2. Engineers, initially defensive teammates working behind the scenes, could later play as roaming harassers. Spies began purely as traitors who hid, but instead could fight on the front lines with pistols and pretend to be dead.

At the very least, it would be a bit surprising if Valve doesn't add any weapons; Valve explains a bit more about the new purchase menu in this blog post, and the full patch notes confirm minor changes regarding smoke grenade volume in the The full patch notes can be found here.