CS2 breaks all-time CS:GO player count, sets new record

CS2's popularity knows no bounds as the sequel to CS:GO broke an important record today: the all-time Counter-Strike concurrent player count.

A new record of 1,824,989 players were recorded by Steam on March 15, setting a new target for the Counter-Strike franchise to reach. The original concurrent peak of 1,818,773 came in the lead-up to CS2's launch back in 2023. However, as popular as the franchise has become, concerns over the way in which the record has been brought up are rife.

CS2 launched in September 2023, and while the player count spiked for the release, it paled in comparison to the hype of March 2023's limited test announcement. Valve began picking CS:GO players, seemingly at random, for an invite to the "closed beta" of CS2 — with many rushing back to the game in the hopes they'd be picked.

The ensuring stampede back to Counter-Strike saw the player count rise to an unprecedented 1.8 million, and many believed numbers like that wouldn't be seen again, especially after CS2's release which was highly criticized by the community who believed the sequel was undercooked.

Valve worked to rectify the issues and, since then, CS2 has gained back the players it lost through early 2024. The player count has climbed significantly over the past year, peaking first during the Shanghai Major, then again with Premier Season 2 in January 2025.

But today, new ground was broken at last. It doesn't look like the record will last either with CS2 still enjoying a period of remarkable growth.

That all said, CS2 isn't without its problems, one of which is the number of bot lobbies dominating some of the lower-traffic servers. Several members of the CS2 community have reported their matchmaking lobbies filled to the brim with bot accounts.

One player who frequents Valve's official deathmatch lobbies in the Hong Kong server, reported all of their games were stacked with bot accounts, while another in the comments remarked the same on Southeast Asia servers.

The bot accounts earn weekly drops like cases and skins which can be sold on the Steam Market. Each of these bot accounts help contribute to the total player count, so it's not something Valve is likely to fix anytime soon.

We'll see the player count likely spike again at the Austin Major later this year, but as CS2 remains ever-popular — and Valve does nothing about the rampant bot problem — the concurrent record's ceiling is truly up in the air.

For more CS2 news stay tuned to esports.gg.