Counter-Strike 2 Private Lobby Guide

In a competitive tactical first-person shooter like Counter Strike 2, normal ranked or premier match mode can sometimes become difficult and cut-throat. Because of this competitiveness, players often look for a way to play without the pressure of those modes, where they can kick back and play around with friends.

Private lobbies allow players to enjoy the game more casually. Besides that, these lobbies are also quite useful for people looking to learn a map or practice line-ups. So, let’s go ahead and figure out how to open a private lobby to play with friends in Counter-Strike 2.

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What are Private Lobbies in CS2?

Private lobbies are essentially matches you can host yourself that aren’t on servers of Valve’s, the Counter-Strike developers. Whenever you queue up for a game in matchmaking, you join a lobby that is hosted by Valve. This lobby is public; anyone can join the game if there is space. On the other hand, in a private lobby, you make the rules on how it works and who can join.

If you want to host your lobby, you can decide and apply numerous aspects of the server yourself. You can choose conditions such as who can join, how many players can play at once, and how long each round is. Usually, these lobbies are opened by players looking to take a break from their serious rank-grind in competitive matchmaking and have fun with a few friends.

However, private lobbies can also help out the more serious players. Many new and old players host a private lobby to learn a map or practice CS2’s mechanics. It is also a great way to test line-ups, prepare for any specific map, or try the best guns. Tournament organizers also use this function to host their matches so that it isn’t interrupted or affected.

How to Open a Private Lobby in CS2

Even though it may sound complicated, opening a private lobby in Counter-Strike 2 is quite simple. Follow the steps below to open your lobby:

Press “Play” from the main menu.
Click on “Matchmaking”.
Click on “Private Matchmaking” to open private lobby settings.

After opening the Private Matchmaking lobby settings, the game will open a tab allowing you to invite your friends on Steam to the lobby. You also invite your friends by sending them a code for the lobby to load them directly into the game. There will also be a few additional settings where you can change the rules of your custom lobby and pick which map you want to play on.

You can also play on community workshop maps made by players and members of the game’s community. You can load any workshop map by heading into the “maps” folder in your game files and pasting the file containing any map. You can find thousands of custom workshop maps on Steam and download the files of whichever one you like.

How to Add and Invite Friends in CS2

Adding your friends and inviting them to your private lobby can sound quite difficult as it needs to be done using the Steam client. But in reality, it is a much easier process than you think. All you need to do to add and invite friends in CS2:

Open the Steam client and launch Counter-Strike 2.
Once you have entered the game’s main lobby, put your cursor on the Friends menu on the right side of the screen, and then in the top-right corner of the menu, click ‘Add Friend.’
You can copy your Friend Code from the menu and share it with your friends, so they can add you. Or, if you have the Friend Code of the person you want to add, insert that code in the ‘Enter a Friend Code’ box.
Once you have put in the Friend Code, click Send Friend Request, and the request will be sent. Once your friends have accepted the request, you can invite them directly to the lobby.

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