Editorial policy

CounterStrikeGO is an independent site about Counter-Strike 2 (CS2). This page explains where our facts come from, how we publish and correct articles, and how we label anything that is not regular editorial content.

Who we are

The company that runs CounterStrikeGO, named in our terms of use, holds editorial responsibility for everything published on counterstrikego.com. You can reach us at support@counterstrikego.com.

Articles are published under the byline CSgoFriends, the site's editorial team. We are not affiliated with or endorsed by Valve Corporation, and we are not affiliated with Skinport.

Where our facts come from

• Every article lists its sources at the end.
• We prefer primary sources: Valve's posts and patch notes, and posts by tournament organizers, teams and players. We link to the specific post or page, not to a site's homepage.
• When a story is based on another outlet's report, we name the outlet and link to its article.
• We write only what our sources say. If our sources do not say something, it does not appear in the article.
• Quotes are word for word and link to where they were said or written. We do not put paraphrases in quotation marks.
• We do not republish other outlets' articles. We quote a short passage and link to the original.

Data

• Item prices come from our own daily snapshots of Skinport's public data. Every price shows its source and the time of the snapshot.
• A price quoted in an article is tied to the article's date, so it does not change when our data is updated.
• Rankings and rosters come from Valve's Regional Standings. Player names and countries, matches and events come from PandaScore. Both sources are named on pages that use this data.
• The figures in our monthly reports on Valve's Regional Standings and our weekly skin market reports are calculated from Valve's standings files and our price snapshots.
• Weapon stats and weapon changes are read from the game's files in GameTracking-CS2, a public mirror on GitHub. Each game update is dated by the day of Valve's update notes when the notes mention one of its weapon changes, and otherwise by the date of the files in the mirror.

Before publication

Rumors carry a "Rumor" label. They are attributed to the outlet that reported them and are not presented as fact. Stories about players or coaches moving between teams carry a "Transfer" label.

We say we tested something in the game only when we did, and then we state the resolution, settings, map and date.

Guides and "Last checked"

Every guide shows a "Last checked" date: the day an editor last checked it. Game updates can change settings and mechanics, so check that date before you rely on a guide.

Corrections and updates

When we get something wrong, we correct it in the article and show the date of the change next to "Updated" at the top of the page.

To report an error, email support@counterstrikego.com with the page URL and a description of the error.

Images, videos and streams

• News images come from the post a story is based on and are credited to its publisher, for example "Image: Valve."
• Photos of players and events come from Wikimedia Commons under free licenses and are credited to their authors.
• Item images are © Valve Corporation. Team logos come via PandaScore and are trademarks of their owners.
• Some articles use illustrations, credited "Illustration: CounterStrikeGO." Our illustrations show objects and places only. They never show people or logos, never copy a real arena, trophy or skin, and never show the event a story is about.
• The 3D weapon models in guides are free models by other authors, credited under each model. They are not the in-game models.
• Twitch streams and clips come only from the official channels of tournament organizers.
• YouTube videos on skin pages show the item in the game. We leave out videos about case opening, giveaways, casinos or betting.

History articles

In 2011 and 2012, counterstrikego.com was a fan site about Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. We do not reuse its old posts. We write new articles about that period and cite the archived posts as sources.

Skins, prices and gambling

Our articles, guides, reports and tools do not promote case opening, skin gambling or betting. Case-opening sites and skin casinos do not appear in our guides, reports or tools. Our price pages are not financial advice. We do not publish price predictions, and we add a warning when a price is based on only a few listings. Read more on our responsible gambling page.

Advertising and paid links

The site has no ads and no affiliate links today. If that changes, we will label them this way:

• An article paid for by an advertiser will carry the label "Advertisement" above the headline.
• An affiliate link, which earns us a commission, will carry the label "Paid link" next to it.
• An article with such links will carry the line "Advertisement: we earn a commission from paid links in this article" before the text.
• An advertiser's logo will appear only as an ad, labeled "Advertisement."

Advertisers cannot buy or change our news coverage, prices or rankings. Marketplace rankings will be based on a published method, never on the size of a commission. See our affiliate disclosure and our advertising page for details. To advertise, email ads@counterstrikego.com.

Style

We write in American English and follow the AP Stylebook.

Contact

News tips, general questions and corrections: support@counterstrikego.com.

Last updated: Oct. 24, 2026.