CSGO continues to shatter all-time player records ahead of Counter-Strike 2

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive continues to break its player count records on Steam ahead of the upcoming release of Counter-Strike 2.

When it comes to Steam’s most popular games, no list can be made without naming the iconic shooter Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. It stands as one of the most-played first-person shooters to ever exist, with millions of players globally. With Counter-Strike 2 on the horizon, its popularity only expanding.

The shooter is constantly growing in terms of playerbase, despite random dips in player count here and there. CSGO’s initial release dates back all the way to 2012, meaning that its popularity over a decade later is even more impressive.

Unsurprisingly, the tactical game has just broken another of its play rate records, hitting an all-time peak of over 1.8 million players. Its previous record break had been back in February of 2023 when the game had around 1.3 million players at once.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive breaks its play rate record again

CSGO reached an all-time peak of 1,818,773 players today, May 6. This was a record-breaking number for the game, coming in after multiple drops and spikes in its player count. It is also currently the best-selling game on Steam’s storefront when it comes to in-game transactions.

Steam Charts

When compared to other competitive first-person shooters, CSGO’s concurrent players as an amount seem to dominate. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege reaches an average of about 45,000 active daily players, hitting about 75,000 during its peak hours.

It is not hard to see then why Counter-Strike’s numbers are so impressive, especially when its age is taken into account. The tactical title sees over a million players engaging online actively, hitting almost two million at peak hours.

When Counter-Strike 2 drops later this year, it will completely replace CSGO due to it being more of an engine upgrade than a full-on sequel as the name would imply. Whether or not CS2 can maintain the current upward momentum once it releases remains to be seen.