It all started on August 2nd
A patch that included a series of interesting changes. The Ember map saw updates to the Cannons where they received a few buffs: additional firing speeds, upward aiming, and additional smaller effects.
The biggest update with this patch was the recalibration of the matchmaking algorithm and a ranking reset. This fix was to finally “fix” what was perceived as a long-standing issue with the wildly off previous rankings (thanks Valve). Many players have noticed enormous shifts in their ranks, with players going from Gold Nova all the way to Global after winning their first match since the update and triggering the recalculation.
We woke up August 9th to crickets…and a small update
Without any notice update 1.38.3.8 (Version 1503) dropped for download on Steam, supposedly a hotfix and some minor game tweaks.
What nobody expected was a global outage of the game servers which lasted for hours. Yeah, tons of time to go touch some grass.
Then, the rumors about a Source 2 release began to go rampant…and then the denials and testimonials about it not being near ready for release. All we’d really like to see are official channels to confirm the system is down, what is happening, and when we can come back inside.

On August 21, 2022, CS:GO turns 10!
Time really does fly when you are having fun.
Will the Source 2 update drop on this special day? This article from DOT Esports says no, but other surprises could be on the way! It also suggests that Source 2 could drop in October.
We are going to stay out of the rumor mill and not speculate. We have important work to do over here.
Enjoy the rest of August and hopefully see you all in September!
Cheers!
— Team Challenger