It’s the second time this year that more than a million players have been seen in CS: GO.
Counter-Strike Global Offensive has breached the million player mark once again in August 2022. This is the second time this year that CS: GO has seen more than a million concurrent players placing it firmly as one of the most popular titles in all of esports.
As per data from Steamcharts.com, CS: GO saw 1,029,351 players on September 3. The game has been hovering around the 900,000 mark for a few months, but the sudden spike in players pushed the number to seven figures.
Why the sudden increase in the number of players?
Currently, ESL Pro League is underway which features top tier teams competing against each other in a league format. Other than that, there’s not been any significant catalyst in terms of events or special occasions to have boosted the players numbers.
The CS: GO player count has seen signficant improvement in the past year with incremental increases almost every month. There was a period post February 2022 when the number of players saw a signficant drop - this time coincided with the Russian invasion of Ukraine which might have played a signficant factor in the drop in numbers.
Why is CS: GO so popular?
Released in 2012, CS: GO continues to be one of the most popular games in esports. The FPS title has a long history dating back to the 1990s and has seen continued growth and development. Valve has released multiple versions of Counter-Strike with Global Offensive being the final one in 2012.
As a game, CS: GO is one of the easiest ones to understand as anyone can play the game with a basic understanding of physics. In simple terms, you aim at the other person and shoot, aim at the head for more damage.
Of Course there’s a lot more depth to the game mechanics, the economy and various strats in the game. But that is something new players do not have to worry about.
From a viewers perspective, no other title (maybe with the exception of Rocket League) is as intuitive and easy to understand as CS: GO.
When will Source 2 release?
There’s been rumors of a Source 2 update for CS: GO for a few months now. More recently, multiple devs were seen playing the game and there have been data mined files with Source 2 references.
However, whether or not CS: GO will see a Source 2 update is still up for debate and is unconfirmed news.
Recently Dota 2 also got a boost in player numbers following the release of the Dota 2 battlepass. The Battlepass features new cosmetic skins as well as promises several new content post TI11.
Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest CS: GO news and updates.