Summary
- Counter-Strike 2 breaks its record for concurrent players twice in less than a month.
- The game’s enduring popularity is bolstered by its lack of major updates and focus on collectibles.
- Valve’s crackdown on cheaters may have contributed to the game’s recent spike in players.
Counter-Strike 2 has broken its record for simultaneous players less than a month after it set its last one. Few shooter series have developed as devoted a fanbase as the Counter-Strike franchise, and even though its latest entry is nearing two years old, it’s showing no signs of slowing. Players are still flocking to Counter-Strike 2, even without any major updates to incentivize people to do so.
Even though the start of 2025 has brought some strong competition from the likes of Monster Hunter Wilds and Avowed, Valve’s hyper-competitive shooter has remained firmly in the top spot on Steam. On February 16, Counter-Strike 2 surpassed 1.7 million concurrent players, setting a new peak player count for the game. Now, just under a month later, it’s done it again.
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On March 15, Counter-Strike 2 hit 1,824,989 concurrent players, breaking its latest record by roughly 100,000 users. Just like the previous peak, the news is a bit of a surprise, as the game hasn’t seen any major content releases or updates in a while. While Counter-Strike 2 Premier mode entered Season 2 in January, there hasn’t been a single big event to bring so many people to the game at once. It seems the spike in players is simply due to its undying popularity and the ever-growing market for skins and other collectibles, which helped solidify Counter-Strike 2‘s dominance on Steam in the first place.
Counter-Strike 2 Surpasses 1.8 Million Concurrent Players
The game’s solid start to 2025 could have something to do with Valve cracking down on bots and cheaters. In late 2024, Counter-Strike 2 implemented a one-year trade ban for players exploiting a bug in the Armor Pass system. Cheating is always a major concern for anything as competitive as the Counter-Strike series, so devs taking a stronger stance against it may encourage more people to dive back into the game. Still, those fixes have been out for a few months now, so they’re likely not the sole cause of the recent player spike, even if they played a role in it.
Whatever the cause, Counter-Strike 2‘s repeated record-breaking is all the more impressive in light of the competition it’s faced this year. It took just nine hours for Monster Hunter Wilds to become the second-most-played game on Steam, reaching 1.3 million concurrent players, but even the biggest entry in the Monster Hunter series wasn’t enough to take the title from Valve. Even though Counter-Strike 2‘s ratings have been among the lowest in Valve’s lineup, it’s consistently sat at the top in terms of players. If it keeps setting records like this, it doesn’t look like it’ll be losing the crown anytime soon.
- Released
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September 27, 2023
- ESRB
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