CS:GO set a new peak online record in the game's entire history.

According to the steamdb portal, CS:GO broke the one-time online record. The peak value at the time of writing was 1,320,219 players. The last time the game broke the peak online record was in April 2020, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

What led to such online growth?

Online growth looks abnormal because the COVID-19 pandemic ended like all other holidays. Most of the playing population works, so the situation could be more conducive to the growth of the player base. However, there is one factor that isn't immediately visible.

IEM Katowice 2023 is gradually ending, where only the best teams and the most exciting matches remain. IEM Katowice is one of the leading and most important tournaments of the year, which most of the Counter-Strike community knows about. Good CS performance makes you want to return to the game.

In addition, an update was released yesterday in CS:GO with new cosmetic items and a case that drops during matches, and its price is very high due to rarity. However, it also brought back most of the players.

Related: Top 5 skins and cases in CS:GO that will be profitable in 2023

How does CS:GO manage to stay afloat for almost 11 years?

CS:GO is the most popular game on Steam right now. At the same time, the project was released on August 21, 2012, and continues to break records ten years later. The main reason, of course, is the well-honed basic mechanics of the game, which keeps the audience engaged for a very long time.

It is also necessary to keep the community with the help of project support and events outside of it. And CS:GO can offer a massive amount of content. Since its release, the game has been regularly updated, the developers add cosmetic and gameplay content, and the esports community around the game is almost the largest among all projects.

The professional scene is growing every year, there are more and more tournaments with a low level of play, and Major events are taking up more and more venues and increasing prize money. As a result, more and more organizations are interested in the CS:GO professional scene every year.

Now CS is going through the best times in its history.