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CSGO has beaten its own player count record once again, soaring above 1.5 million concurrent users in the wake of the Counter-Strike 2 reveal. It seems that fans of the decade-old title are unwilling to let it go quietly into that dark night, considering that, in the summer, it’ll be completely replaced with Counter-Strike 2. For the most part, CS2 is seen as an improvement over CSGO in every way, but it’ll still be a sad day for fans when the latter title disappears forever.

It’s expected that, on the final days of CSGO’s lifecycle, the player count will reach its highest level in history. But, as the community comes together to continue appreciating one of the best esports titles in the business, an exorbitant concurrent player count of 1.5 million has been achieved, which is in itself a remarkable figure.

Are you still playing CSGO ahead of Counter-Strike 2’s release?

Image Credit: Valve

We were tracking all the leaks and updates regarding Counter-Strike 2 ahead of Valve officially announcing the game, and it was an exciting time. It has only been a few days since the game was revealed, but the hype train is gathering steam at an alarming pace. At present, CS2 sits within a limited access phase, with certain players being granted access to a beta version of the game. It’s a period that’ll ensure that the game reaches an almost perfect state when it launches in full – for free – this summer.

There are many ways that Counter-Strike 2 differs from CSGO, with the developer, Valve, saying that it’s the ‘largest technical leap forward’ in franchise history. It may look relatively similar on the surface, but there are many impactful changes that have taken place to make CS2 a much better-performing and more stable platform than CSGO.

It was recently confirmed by Valve that in May, the Paris Major will be held, and it’ll be the final Major taking place on the CSGO platform ever. Then, the scene will go on a hiatus lasting almost a year, before the next event takes place in March 2024. It’s an intense time to be one of the best CSGO players in the world, as there’s an extremely important ongoing mission to get as good at Counter-Strike 2 as possible, and fast.

For now, players can continue to enjoy CSGO – and that peak player count can continue to rise. In the summer, with a clearer date yet to be confirmed, CSGO will be ‘sunsetted’, with Counter-Strike 2 coming in and replacing the game in full. Don’t worry, though – all of your skins and such accumulated thus far will be ported across into the new version of the game.

Counter-Strike 2 will be totally free-to-play, and it’ll boast many of the same mechanics that CSGO does. It’ll feel mostly like the same game, which is good for those fans that have trouble adjusting to an all-new product. There are also rumours that a CS2 mobile game is in development, but that’s nowhere near being confirmed.

This is going to be an exciting year for Counter-Strike.