CS2s failed to break CS:GO’s player record during debut weekend

The missing content might be something to do with CS2 failing to surpass CS:GO's numbers

Jack Howarth

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CS2 officially launched last week after what seemed like one of the most hyped summers in gaming history. However, the player counts barely changed at all from the standard CS:GO numbers, CS2 also failed to break CS:GO’s player record during debut weekend. We feel there might be several good reasons for this.

A lot of features are missing from CS2 that were present in CS:GO, and with CS2 serving as an update to CS:GO, it’s gone forever. A move that was likely made to not divide the player base, but it seems like it could have been a mistake.

CS2 fails to impress in the numbers department

CS2 just finished its debut weekend, but despite all the hype around its release, the player numbers failed to impress. You’d think the most popular game on Steam would be able to break its own record when it’s essentially getting remade in an all-new engine.

Unfortunately, this was not the case. The all-time high concurrent users for CS:GO stands at 1,818,773, a massive number, but not the biggest we’ve ever seen. CS2 has only managed to peak at 1,471,730 since it’s release, and that was the day following the full release of the game.

It’s still a little surprising when you consider all the hype around the game or is it? If you’ve been on the internet this weekend you might have seen a lot of people complaining about the lack of features in CS2.

There’s still a lot missing from CS2

Valve has released CS2 in a very barebones state compared to CS:GO with a lot of features and game modes missing from the game on launch. There has been a new premiere mode added but at the cost of many beloved game modes.

This post on Reddit by u/cosmictrigger01 summed it up best:

The post goes on to list a number of features that are missing from CS2 that were present in CS:GO, such as:

• Multiple competitive maps
• Multiple wingman maps
• Arms Race
• Danger Zone
• Flying Scoutsman
• Workshop maps
• mac support
• 128 tick
• Good anticheat
• cl_bob, cl_righthand, crosshairoutline 0.5, r_cleardecals, net_graph
• Performance optimization
• Player count instead of avatars
• Steam Clan Tag

Many people commented on the post mocking Valve for releasing an unfinished game and jokingly suggested that these features will come in a CS2 part 2 patch. This draws attention to Half-Life’s release pattern.

All jokes aside, a lot of the more casual player base that enjoys the more laid-back game modes have now been alienated completely, thanks to a lack of that mode in CS2 and the now non-existence of CS:GO.

I think that it’s this alienation of many players that lead to a smaller-than-anticipated concurrent user count for CS2. As of right now, we don’t know if these game modes are going to make a return anytime soon, but let’s hope Valve clears the air