Female CS2 pros demand Valve end “unwelcoming” extra charge for female agent skins

An all-female CS2 team has called out Valve to stop the “unwelcoming” extra charge to get a female agent skin in Counter-Strike 2.

Counter-Strike 2, shortened as CS2, is a multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) developed and published by Valve. The game is an updated version of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) and was released in September 2023.

Since the first installment of Counter-Strike, which was released in 2000, there have always been default agents with a male physique and headgear. There weren’t any default female characters for players until they released skins that are locked behind a paywall.

This was why Astralis Women, the all-female CS2 team of the professional Danish esports organization Astralis, took to X with an “open letter” to the game developers to follow up on their mail.

Open letter to valve. Please hear them out@CounterStrike @AuroraLyngdal @anjacsgo @Ismo_cs @marietoftt pic.twitter.com/uxVjuBExo5

In the letter, they stated that the female agent skins cost extra while all the default characters were male.

They claim that this feels “unfair and unwelcoming” and “supports the sexism” that female players encounter.

They advocated that there should be no difference between the agents and that there should be an equal number of free female and male agents in CS2.