The first three months of 2020 have indeed been a sad time for the whole world due to the severe impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. Alongside the skyrocketing increase in infection cases, many entertainment, sports, and eSports events worldwide have been canceled or postponed indefinitely due to the pandemic’s influence.
Of course, CS:GO is no exception, with the largest tournament at the start of the year, IEM Katowice 2020, having to compete without an audience, followed by ESL Pro League Season 11 canceling its LAN plans and moving to online play for the qualifiers.
However, during the darkest days, the CS:GO community was unexpectedly greeted with good news when, for the first time in history, the game hit 1 million concurrent players on March 14. This achievement came from the synergy of many factors such as: an increasing number of people discovering CS:GO, the effect of major tournaments, the appeal of Operation Shattered Web, and especially due to the pandemic, many people would be staying home to… play games.
According to various sources, the number of new CS:GO players has been steadily increasing recently, averaging about 25,000 new players each week.
In response to this historic milestone, many pro players and notable figures within the CS:GO community eagerly shared on Twitter:
Slasher: “Counter Strike – a 20-year-old game, has for the first time in history reached 1 million concurrent players. CS has become more popular than ever, and it will never die. And there are 1 million people waiting for Gaben to show more love for this game, something they have always hoped for all this time.”
JW: “It’s so happy and exciting to see CS:GO hit 1 million concurrent players. And to all the new players: the game isn’t always lagging like it is now, I hope it gets fixed soon.”
In the context where many traditional sports tournaments like soccer and basketball around the world are forced to halt, eSports can completely take this opportunity to reach out to new audiences and players, as it can be played online and event organizers are still coming up with unique plans and ideas for events without audiences.
