CS:GO peak concurrent player number on Steam 2016-2020
In May 2020, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) reached more 1.2 million concurrent players on Steam. This sharp growth in players is no doubt in part due to the coronavirus pandemic which spread across the world at the beginning of 2020. As millions of people were encouraged and, in some cases, legally required to stay at home, many people turned to video gaming as a form of entertainment.
Counter Strike still going strong
Despite the fact that CS:GO was released some seven years ago in August 2012, the game is still very popular online and has developed a cult following. As of January 2019, Counter-Strike had more than 20 million monthly active users, double the figure from May 2016. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is the fourth game in the Counter-Strike series of games. As with its predecessors, the game takes the form of a multiplayer first-person shooter in which two teams are pitted against each other in a variety of different game modes.
Not just a game for the gamers
While millions of gamers have fun playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, millions more watch official tournaments online. Some of the leading CS:GO eSports tournaments worldwide in 2018 included IEM Katowice 2018 and ELEAGUE Major 2018, the latter peaking at almost 1.9 million viewers. With such a large fanbase, it is unsurprising that these eSports tournaments are worth big money. The annual cumulative tournament prize pool for the game stood at 22.65 million U.S. dollars in 2018, a significant increase on the previous two years. Gamers are therefore in line for big paydays if they do well in these tournaments, with Andreas Højsleth, known by his online alias, Xyp9x, currently leading the earnings table for CS:GO eSports players.
Counter Strike still going strong
Despite the fact that CS:GO was released some seven years ago in August 2012, the game is still very popular online and has developed a cult following. As of January 2019, Counter-Strike had more than 20 million monthly active users, double the figure from May 2016. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is the fourth game in the Counter-Strike series of games. As with its predecessors, the game takes the form of a multiplayer first-person shooter in which two teams are pitted against each other in a variety of different game modes.
Not just a game for the gamers
While millions of gamers have fun playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, millions more watch official tournaments online. Some of the leading CS:GO eSports tournaments worldwide in 2018 included IEM Katowice 2018 and ELEAGUE Major 2018, the latter peaking at almost 1.9 million viewers. With such a large fanbase, it is unsurprising that these eSports tournaments are worth big money. The annual cumulative tournament prize pool for the game stood at 22.65 million U.S. dollars in 2018, a significant increase on the previous two years. Gamers are therefore in line for big paydays if they do well in these tournaments, with Andreas Højsleth, known by his online alias, Xyp9x, currently leading the earnings table for CS:GO eSports players.
