The COVID-19 pandemic wasn’t the worst for the gaming industry. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, in particular, enjoyed a peak player count of 1.3 million players, an all-time record, in April 2020. Better yet, its numbers didn’t really crash as hard as expected from there. Then, Valve revealed Counter-Strike 2, and all hell broke loose in March, as CS:GO breached the 1.5 million mark. Now, CS:GO has done the unexpected once again.
After averaging close to a million last month, CS:GO set a new all-time record days ahead of the final Major of the shooter’s competitive year at 1.8 million, as per SteamDB and SteamCharts.
It’s been an amazing year for CS:GO, a game that should be getting up there in age and getting down in popularity.
If you’re wondering why there’s a sudden influx of players for CS:GO, there’s two reasons for this. For one, Counter-Strike 2. On top of this, the final CS:GO Major and its tie-in rewards are nice to have.
WIth the Paris Major kicking off on May 8, Valve has brought back the Pick’Em challenge, where CS:GO players can try and predict how the tournament will go. Everyone wins a prize just for taking part of the challenge, but those with the closest predictions go home with the rarest prizes.
Valve released a new line of cosmetics as well. These stickers of the logo of every participating team and signatures of all the participating players can be added to any weapon skin.
You could argue that the Paris Major is the last hurrah for competitive CS:GO – at least until the first Major of Counter-Strike 2.
Unlike in previous years where Valve will hold two Majors, Valve is holding only one for CS:GO this year and it will run from May 8 through May 21. Afterward, the enigmatic privately-owned development studio will key in its efforts toward one of the most highly anticipated sequels of all time, Counter-Strike 2, which will get its own Major next March.
Valve has had a fruitful year so far, especially in light of the success of the Steam Deck. But, its throne atop the non-Switch portable gaming market might be threatened once the ASUS ROG Ally comes out on May 11.
