Valve brings back Overwatch in CS2 to train VACNet

Valve quietly reintroduced Overwatch in Counter-Strike 2 in an overnight update, giving a limited group of players access through the CS2 main menu. The feature appears as an Overwatch invitation in the top-left corner.

Invited players can watch short demo clips that highlight suspicious moments and record whether they believe a player cheated. Clicking the invitation redirects users to a separate page that requires Steam account authorization before they can begin reviewing.

Valve will use the community verdicts as labeled training data for VACNet, its neural network designed to detect cheating. Those verdicts are not used to directly punish players; any enforcement will continue to come from Valve’s automated systems.

The feature is currently a limited test. Valve has not disclosed how many accounts received invitations or how long the trial will run. Valve described the primary aim as improving VACNet’s detection models by using assessments from real matches.

For now, the system is available only to selected users who receive the in-game invitation, and Valve has not announced a timetable for wider availability.