Counter-Strike 2 has beaten CS:GO’s all-time high player count on Steam, 13 years after the latter was released. CS:GO’s previous record of 1,818,773 concurrent players has stood since May 2023, but CS2 has finally managed to top it.
Counter-Strike is stronger than ever
On March 15th, 2025, Counter-Strike 2 officially reached a new all-time high player count, peaking at 1,824,989 at the time of writing. Given the upward trajectory of the game’s popularity of late, it’s certainly possible this could go even higher over the course of the weekend.
Credit: SteamDB
Perhaps most impressively, this record-breaking number comes despite the lack of a big CS2 update in a little while now. You might hear plenty of noise online about the state of the game, but the numbers don’t lie: Counter-Strike is more popular than ever, reaching new peaks 13 years after the release of CS:GO. I’m not here to compare player count against Counter-Strike’s competitors, but it’s impressive that CS continues to scale new heights over time.
Some may speculate that the numbers are a result of more CS2 case farming bots than ever, but I don’t buy it. Case farming bots have existed for as long as bots have in Counter-Strike, and there’s no reason to suggest that there would be any more now than there has been. The numbers back it up, too – case prices aren’t going down in any noticeable way, which they would if there were more bots taking them as drops. Gamers are enjoying Counter-Strike 2, and it’s easy to see why. The game is better than ever, and its esports scene only grows in popularity year on year. Long live Counter-Strike!