Counter-Strike 2 has reached an exciting new milestone, recently setting a new record for total players. While the game may not be without its flaws, it is anything but “dead.” It’s always refreshing to see a franchise adapt and thrive, even when faced with challenges.
Just yesterday, Counter-Strike 2 hit a concurrent player peak of 1,744,015 players, according to the reliable SteamDB database. This surge occurred around 13:50 UTC translating to mid-to-late afternoon in Europe and morning across the Americas. It’s impressive to witness such numbers, especially considering this was the highest concurrent count since December last year.
Since then, CS2 has maintained an average of over 900,000 players which speaks volumes about its staying power. As much as these figures are commendable, they still fall short of the records established by CS: GO. May 2023 saw a peak of 1,818,773 players primarily driven by excitement surrounding the final CS: GO Major and early talk for CS2’s testing phase.
The slight decline in January’s player counts can likely be attributed to a lull in competitive play following events like the Perfect World Shanghai Major. Recent tournaments such as BLAST and IEM Katowice have seen those numbers bounce back again. Currently, ruling the charts on Steam feels just right for CS2. It rarely gets surpassed in active player counts.
Despite its unabated popularity some issues remain at the forefront of community discussions rampant cheating and FPS performance troubles top that list. There’s also chatter about wanting more content, such as operations or fresh modes, to keep things lively. Despite these concerns lingering in the background CS2 stands strong as one of the most-played PC games worldwide, only League of Legends rivals it.
