Danger Zone return firms after CS2 code update mentions missing mode

A Counter-Strike 2 data miner has today discovered hints that popular CS:GO battle royale mode Danger Zone might be making its debut six months after the sequel’s launch.

Data miner Thour picked apart Valve’s small March 18 update and posted his results on X (formerly Twitter). The update included small changes for the ongoing PGL Copenhagen Major Pick’Em page and a “Preview Souvenir” button for players’ Souvenir tokens, but it was a few added backend strings that mostly piqued his and the community’s interest: “HostageDropping,” “OpeningSafe,” and “TakingOffHeavyArmor.”

These are common terms for mechanics last seen in Danger Zone, the battle royale mode Valve launched in CS:GO in 2018. Like its peers in the genre, Danger Zone players dropped into a wide, expansive map and earned cash for weapons while battling, with competitors able to complete tasks like rescuing hostages or opening safes to earn extra cash.

The appearance of these strings proves Valve is cooking something in the background and that it could be the long-awaited return of Danger Zone. Players have been begging for the battle royale’s return since last September’s launch of CS2, with some going so far as to call the sequel update “incomplete” as it didn’t include many of CS:GO’s existing game modes.

One of these modes, Arms Race, did eventually make the successful transition to CS2 in early February as part of the A Call to Arms update, so it’s clear Valve is working to port over as many missing CS:GO features as possible as time progresses. There’s an outside chance it may not be Danger Zone and something more exciting like another round of story missions we once saw as part of the game’s Operations—which used similar mechanics as those seen added via today’s strings update—but this is purely speculation.

As for a timeframe for such an update, we certainly wouldn’t see a huge addition to CS2 like Danger Zone until after the PGL Copenhagen Major comes to an end; it is due to wrap on March 31. Until then, all we can do is hope and pray Valve is working on adding the mode alongside various other fixes CS2 desperately needs.