How to play with friends in CS2: lobbies and invites
How to invite a friend to a CS2 lobby, queue together, join the same server and what to do if an invite does not arrive.
In CS2 you can play with friends in two ways: form a lobby for official matchmaking or join a third-party server together.
🔧 Matchmaking lobby
Open the friends list on the right side of the CS2 main menu.
Click a friend → "Invite to lobby".
When they accept, you are in the same lobby.
The lobby leader picks the mode and maps and clicks "Go".
📌 Limits
For Premier, players in a lobby cannot have too large a rating gap.
A lobby can have up to 5 players in 5v5 modes and up to 2 in Wingman.
🖥️ Same server
If your friend is already on a server: Steam → Friends → right-click the friend → "Join Game".
Or ask for the server address and connect via the console:
connect IP:PORT
🎯 Invite not arriving
Check that you are both online and that your Steam status is not "Invisible".
Restart CS2 on both PCs.
Re-add each other as Steam friends if the problem keeps happening.
⚠️ Tip
Agree on a voice channel in advance — for example, Discord — in case you end up on different teams.