In September 2023, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) was upgraded to Counter-Strike 2. As of July 2025, Counter-Strike 2 had 1.4 million peak concurrent players on Steam, slightly down from the peak marked in the previous month. CS2 completely replaced CSGO on Steam. Counter Strike still going strong Despite the fact that CS:GO was in August 2012, the game was very popular online and has developed a cult following until its replacement by Counter-Strike 2. CS2 is the fifth game in the Counter-Strike series of games. As with its predecessors, the game takes the form of a multiplayer first-person shooter in which two teams are pitted against each other in various different game modes. After more than a decade, the game's sequel was published on Steam. Not just a game for the gamers While millions of gamers have fun playing Counter-Strike, millions more watch official tournaments online. With such a large fanbase, it is unsurprising that these eSports tournaments are worth big money. The annual cumulative tournament prize pool for the game stood at 20.83 million U.S. dollars in 2024, an increase from the previous year. Gamers are therefore in line for big paydays if they do well in these tournaments, with Danil Kryshkovets, known by his online alias donk, being the top-earning Counter-Strike 2 eSports player worldwide.

The statistic presents the number of monthly active users of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) worldwide as of February 2020. According to the latest figures, CS:GO had a record 24 million monthly active users.

Counter-Strike 2 was the most popular game on Steam in July 2025. The tactical first-person shooter game racked up an impressive 917,677 average concurrent players per week, which was more than competing titles Dota 2, PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS, and Marvel Rivals did. What is Steam? Steam is one of the top-grossing digital gaming content platforms worldwide. Initially created by Valve Corporation to update games such as Counter-Strike in 2003, the service has since expanded to include games from third-party developers and publishers. The platform also offers multiplayer gaming, digital rights management, social networking, and video streaming services, drawing millions of users from around the world each day. In 2023, the number of peak concurrent Steam users hit 33 million, gaining roughtly three million users per year. Counter Strike strikes again Counter-Strike 2 is a multiplayer first-person shooter game that pits two teams of terrorists and counter-terrorists against each other in different objective-based game modes. As the fifth game in the top-rated Counter-Strike series, CS2 was released as a direct successor to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The game was released in 2023 as an updated version of CS:GO. In 2024, Counter-Strike 2 came third in the ranking of most played games on Steam at more than 1.7 million peak concurrent players.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) is an online multiplayer game which pits two teams, the Terrorists and the Counter-Terrorists, against each other in a fight for survival. First released in August 2012, the game has become a commercial and critical success. It won the fan’s choice eSports Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2015 and, most recently, generated revenue of *** million U.S. dollars worldwide in 2018.

Counter Strike on Steam CS:GO is the fourth game in the Counter-Strike series and was released on both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 as well as on PC. It is most commonly played on the PC gaming platform Steam, where it ranks second on the list of all-time best-selling games. Due to its multiplayer nature, the game often attracts large numbers of gamers at once - its record high peak concurrent player number on Steam was registered in April 2016, at nearly ***** thousand gamers playing at the same time. Despite now being several years old, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has still managed to retain a loyal fan base. The game had over 20 million monthly active users at the beginning of 2019, a huge increase from the *** million playing in February 2014.

Big money at stake As a result of the fast-paced and exciting nature of the game, Counter-Strike has also become a hit eSports game. ELEAGUE Major, a CG:GO championship which took place in Boston in 2018, was viewed by a peak of nearly *** million viewers, making it the most watched CS:GO tournament in 2018. The number of viewers engrossed in the action is no doubt increased by the significant sums of money on the line. The cumulative prize pool for Global Offensive tournaments worldwide in 2018 stood at a record ***** million U.S. dollars. It seems that it pays to be good at video games and nobody knows this more than Andreas Højsleth, also known as Xyp9x, who has won an estimated **** million U.S. dollars through his Counter-Strike: Global Offensive eSports career.

First released in July 2013, DOTA 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena game that was created as a sequel to Defense of the Ancients (DotA). Published by Valve Corporation, which is also the creator of the gaming platform Steam, DOTA 2 had an estimated 7.6 million monthly active users worldwide in February 2021. The MAU figure peaked back in June 2016, when an average of over 13 million players enjoyed the game every month.

DOTA 2: Steam giant DOTA 2 is one of the most successful games on Steam. The game reached nearly 795 thousand players in a single hour in its peak in 2020, beaten only by the battle royale classic, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Cyberpunk 2077, and CSGO. It was also beaten only by CSGO based on the hourly average number of players on the gaming platform - an impressive 427.99 thousand players enjoyed DOTA 2 on Steam during an average hour in 2020.

DOTA 2 tournaments The biggest DOTA 2 eSports tournament worldwide is The International. The first edition of the tournament took place during Gamescom in Cologne, Germany back in 2011. The International 2019 was held at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai and was the biggest eSports tournament of all time based on the overall prize pool of over 34 million U.S. dollars. In fact, all five of the top eSports tournaments of all time were editions of The International, highlighting its importance in the eSports universe. Given the sums of money up for grabs, it is no wonder that viewers in their millions are engrossed in the action. The International 8 in 2018 attracted approximately 14.96 million concurrent viewers in peak moment. These viewers watched professional DOTA 2 eSports team, OG, take home the grand prize, narrowly beating PSG.LGB in the Grand Finals. The 2020 edition of The International was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is set to take place in Stockholm, Sweden.

Downloadable content is a way of enhancing the video gaming experience for the players by giving them access to exciting new content which can range from the purely aesthetic changes to upgrades to characters and items. During a 2019 survey of gamers, it was found that they spent an average of 92 U.S. dollars each year on in-game transactions in League of Legends.

The reasons why Fortnite has become such a global hit are clear to see. Not only is the game free to play, but it is also available on most gaming platforms. On top of this, the Battle Royale-style, in which up to 100 players fight it out at one time, mean that the re-playability of the game is infinite – each game is unique. However, while the game itself is free to download, users are encouraged to purchase downloadable content (DLC) to enhance their gaming experience. In 2019, Fornite users in the United States spent an average of 82 U.S. dollars on DLC. The most common in-game purchases included upgrades to characters and outfits, as well as to the gliders which transport the players into the battle arena. This model for generating revenue seems to have been a success for Epic Games as player spending on the Fortnite mobile app consistently reaches million of U.S. dollars each month.