In January 2023, Counter-Strike 2 experienced a minor celebration, as players laid out a gift for Valve under the New Year's tree. For the first time in three months, the average online presence in CS2 increased by 7.78%.

The average online count in Counter-Strike 2 for December increased from 714,511.4 to 770,094.8. However, things are not as smooth as one would hope, and here's why.

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Despite the positive trend in the average online count for CS2 in the last month of 2023, it's undeniable that this increase was influenced by holidays and weekends during the New Year's celebrations. Therefore, it can be assumed that the statistics will show negative indicators again in January.

Additionally, the number of unique players in January 2023 dropped from 23.9 million to 23.2. This decline is mainly due to the lack of updates, such as a new anti-cheat system or operation. The last operation was in September 2021.

In October and November, there was a rapid decline in the audience, with the game losing about 30% of its audience. However, in December, the online count increased by 55 thousand. It's becoming apparent that the early release of Counter-Strike 2 was not beneficial for the community, but it's also making the game better day by day.