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In the age of waning attention spans, Valve’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has bucked the trend, setting a new record for the highest number of peak average players. Since the game went to a free-to-play model in December of 2018 player numbers have risen, but the reason for the new player record coincides with the new Shattered Web update that came out this November that is the big draw.
According to SteamCharts, the game has seen a resurgence and has the highest number of average players in its history, with roughly 464K at the time of this writing. And while the title has seen player spikes before coinciding with the release of new skins and updates, 2019 has been a great year in terms of the number of average players gaining over 61K in the average number of players–the highest since 2015.
CS:GO has proven to be an anomaly in the esports and gaming world, along with such titles as League of Legends and Dota 2, that has seen the title grow in the number of players as the game ages.
In terms of esports, the number of tournaments continues to rise and more teams are jumping into the fray, competing for the influx in prize money. Teams such as OG, Evil Geniuses, 100Thieves, and GEN.G.
According to Esports Earnings, CS:GO has given out the second-largest amount of prize money in history at $90.2M USD, sitting behind the crowd-funded Dota 2 at $291.7M. Coincidentally, both are published by Valve Corporation.
CS:GO Yearly Average Player Gains and Peak Average Number of Monthly Players*:
2019: 61K/398K
2018: 55K/322K
2017: -1K/369K
2016: -35K/349K
2015: 194K/320K
2014: 137K/106K
2013: 33K/23K (Skins, weapons, and cases added in August.)
2012: 13K/6K
* Data collected from Steam Charts
