“Thanks a Million” that is the tweet that signaled a significant milestone for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in March 2020.
The tweet was posted on the verified twitter account of CS: GO at about 4:22 PM on March 14, 2020.
Another Record Shattered by CS:GO
CS: GO has been on a recent spree of record-breaking. For the past month and a half, it has broken and set new records, including its personal records too. By February 29, the game was within touching distance of the 1 million concurrent player milestone. However, it ended the day at 933.748 players, which is still a new record at that time.
On March 14, however, CS: GO smashed its record to set a new one – this time, racking up 1 million online players simultaneously. This is the first time since the released of the title back in 2012 to hit the 1 million concurrent player milestone.
The new eSports record means CS: GO has cemented its place in the annals of the classic titles. Granted, during its early eight years, when it was first released, it had a lot of ups and downs – but over the years, it has weathered all and is now set to continue climbing in the user charts.
Here to Stay
CS: GO with this new record and staying power over the years, is, without doubt, the number one FPS Game. And it has already broken its closest rival game Dota 2 player base record and cruising ahead with a snug lead. Dota 2, on the other hand, has had a volatile year so far.
Interestingly, this new record-breaking streak appears to have been in part as a result of a smart move the CS: GO team made earlier in the year by making the game free-to-play before the recent Operation: Shattered Web.
Some industry watchers believed the current COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown of many cities which forced people to stay at home is another reason for the surge in users. Analysts argued that as people are forced to stay at home, they suddenly find themselves with plenty time which they don’t know what to do with it, hence, turning to online gaming and subsequently CS: GO to fill up their day.
This argument makes sense and if the lockdown persists, we might be seeing CS:GO break and set new concurrent player records.
eSports Growth Despite Quarantine
Meanwhile, Astralis, the eSport team supported by Unibet – a top online betting agency that offers best odds for most popular eSports like CS: GO Dota 2, League of Legends or Rainbow 6 – has taken their first step on the road to ESL Pro League XI. Astralis topped their Group A matchup.
Though, their league started on a shaky footing with a 2-1 loss to Ninjas in Pyjamas before finding their form to cruise to a comfortable win against GODSENT and ENCE. Then powering through Team Spirit; however, their chance to top the league was against a familiar albeit strong opponent, Vitality. After a grueling series, Astralis came out victorious and hence crowned group leaders.
Astralis is straight through to Stage 2 alongside NAVI who won in group B. The two teams will wait for the other spots to be filled before matching up against each other in a round-robin best-of-three structure where the team with the most wins go straight to the best-of-five EU Championship Grand Final.
The 2nd and 3rd best teams in Stage 2 will battle it out in a best-of-three matchup to decide the second team for the last spot in the Grand Final.
Astralis’s next game is on April 5 when Stage 2 of the ESL Pro League XI begins. Though right now, the team and time they will be playing have not been decided.
