The CS:GO participant depend has damaged its peak document, proving that there’s nonetheless loads of life within the decade-old FPS recreation. Launched in August 2012, Counter-Strike: International Offensive has continued to keep up its place among the many hottest video games on Steam ever since, however has not too long ago surged once more to reaffirm Valve’s place as the highest canine on its PC gaming platform regardless of competitors from large releases.
There are few names so carefully tied to PC gaming as Counter-Strike. The collection has been a mainstay for the platform for over 20 years now, with Counter-Strike 1.0 releasing in November 2000. This may evolve to develop into CS 1.6 by September 2003, which was then adopted up a yr later by the discharge of Counter-Strike: Supply, a remake on Valve’s Supply engine.
CS:GO marks the newest iteration of the tense, bomb-defusing staff shooter, which is essentially nonetheless largely the identical recreation it was at its core all these years in the past, albeit with numerous tweaks and enhancements over time. It seems to be like these years of refinement have paid off, as the sport is extra standard now than it’s ever been, with solely PUBG: Battlegrounds and Misplaced Ark having ever hit increased numbers.
The CS:GO participant depend reached 1,320,219 concurrent gamers on February 11, 2023 – breaking its earlier all-time excessive, set in April 2020. This units it comfortably on the high of the present Steam charts, and sits over 50 % increased than the Hogwarts Legacy participant depend in second place, although it’s value noting that the newly launched Harry Potter recreation is priced at $59.99 USD / £49.99 GBP, whereas Counter-Strike is free to play.
Above chart offered by SteamDB.
Previous to turning into free in August 2018, nonetheless, CS:GO’s highest document was simply over 850,000 customers – exhibiting it’s not simply the shortage of a price ticket that issues. Together with its easy, refined gameplay that has remained standard in gentle of direct contenders comparable to Valorant together with extra distinct shooters comparable to Name of Responsibility and Halo, Valve’s recreation has additionally seen loads of profit from the market round CS:GO skins, the most costly of which at present on the market on the Steam group market are listed for over $1,900 USD.
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