CSGO Takes The Throne From Dota 2 with More Than 1.3 Million Concurrent Players

April 18, 2020 | 0 | 295| |

Valve’s Counter-Strike Global Offensive (CS: GO) has beaten Dota 2’s long-standing record for the highest number of concurrent players. Dota 2 set the record nearly four years ago, when it reached 1,295,114 concurrent players.

CS:GO has seen an influx of new players since Valve made the game free-to-play. The coronavirus global pandemic has forced people indoors and many are resorting to video games to pass their time. Steam and CS:GO have seen a steady climb in playerbase. CS:GO recently breached the million player mark and has now quickly climbed its way past the 1.3 million mark.

CS:GO has beaten Dota 2’s record and is seeing an influx of players due to coronavirus. Image Credit: SteamDB.

CS:GO faces stiff competition from Riot Games’ VALORANT. Recently, Valve incorporated a feature from VALORANT in CS:GO, allowing players to copy their teammates and opponents crosshairs in-game. It is a small quality-of-life change, but one that was well-received by the FPS community.

Why is CS:GO So Popular?

The game’s popularity stems from the ease of playing and its fairly easy mechanics. At its core, the game is easy to pick up for newcomers. Most people have some experience in FPS games, or an understanding of how FPS games work. Unlike Dota 2, which has one of the steepest learning curves of all time, Counter-Strike is very noob-friendly.

The COVID-19 coronavirus has resulted in more players on all gaming platforms. Steam regularly counts more than 23 million concurrent players and the number is steadiy climbing every day.

Several tournaments have had to move online due to social distancing rules and ban on large crowds. The ESL Pro League and FLASHPOINT Season 1 took place online and Valve shifted the ESL One Rio Major to November with an increased prize pool and a new format.

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Rohan

The author

Esports journalist. An esports fan, former wannabe pro and occasional angry young man. You can find him trying to climb the Dota 2 MMR or just chilling in Rocket League. Or maybe building an entire city in Cities: Skylines. The current mood is always a surprise.