Counterstrike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) hit an all-time milestone of over 1.3 million concurrent players this past weekend, a whole 11 years after its release.
The number of concurrent players peaked at 1,320,219 on February 11. The previous record was 1,308,963 in April 2020, the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Considering how the game was released in 2012, it is unclear what caused this sudden spike in players.
CS:GO is still Steam’s most popular game, with more than double the players of other games like Dota 2 at around 653,000, PUBG: Battlegrounds at over 452,000, and Apex Legends at over 441,000. By far, CS:GO is the only game capable of breaching the million mark of concurrent players.
What makes this spike even more interesting is that it is totally organic. There have been no recent updates from developer Valve in years. Perhaps it is this consistency that gamers appreciate and keeps them coming back for more.
While there’s no clear reason why the cooperative multiplayer shooter game is so popular right now, one thing’s for sure: it’s never too late to get into it. If you’re thinking about playing CS:GO, just know that many others are in the same boat.
