Counter-Strike: Source was initially released as a beta to members of the Valve Cyber Café Program on August 11, 2004.On August 18, 2004, the beta was released to owners of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero and those who had received a Half-Life 2 voucher bundled with some ATI Radeon video cards.

On October 11, 2006, Valve released an experimental update, Dynamic Weapons Pricing. Under this system, item prices are determined based on their demand the previous week. Other updates, such as an enhanced radar system, have been generally accepted as a positive enhancement.

On March 5, 2010, Valve Corporation announced the release of its entire first-party library, including Counter-Strike, on the Mac OS X platform, for release in April 2010.

On May 7, 2010, Valve released an update that includes new features and functionality developed in collaboration with Hidden Path Entertainment. These include 144 [now 145] new achievements, a new domination and revenge system, similar to that of Team Fortress 2, player stats, an upgrade to the Orange Box engine and more.

On June 23, 2010, Valve released the beta to the public, and also made the game available for Mac via SteamPlay.