Valve’s extremely popular online shooter Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO), continues to bring in a ridiculous amount of players. The game has already broken its own player base record back in February, and then did it again one month later. Now, CSGO has destroyed yet another major milestone, reaching well over 1,300,000 concurrent players, breaking Dota 2’s all-time record in the process. While this is already a remarkable achievement, it’s thanks to one other tidbit of information that makes this a significant moment for Steam. Dota 2’s all-time record was unrivaled for over four years, and CSGO has officially ended the streak.
We’ve gone over CSGO’s rapid increase in popularity over the past couple of years, but it’s absolutely insane just how much of a turnaround the game has gone through thanks to some modifications. The fans’ interest in the game especially went up during the Shattered Web event that introduced a plethora of new items, cosmetics, and sprays. Long before that, the game went free-to-play and the player base went up almost instantly. Let’s also remember that Steam itself is seeing the highest amount of players in its entire history which the game is most definitely benefiting from.
Of course another major reason for the jump in players is due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, which has affected everyone around the world. The video game industry is no exception, as long-time conventions are being canceled, and video game delays are happening as a result of the economic halt from the pandemic. A lot of people staying inside their homes are turning to video games, especially online multiplayer games, as a new hobby, or an old one, and the result is more people playing online which sees a spike in concurrent players.