Counter-Strike player count drops over 15% after CS2 release as skins crash too

The release of Counter-Strike 2, replacing CS:GO, was supposed to be a watershed moment for Counter-Strike, bringing in an influx of new players – but, rather the opposite has happened, with the player count falling below CS:GO numbers.

In May 2023, CS:GO hit a record-breaking 1.8 million concurrent players. With the exception of PUBG’s one-off 3.2 million in 2018, this was a record for any game on Steam.

This peak was reached shortly after the announcement of CS2, as players jumped in hoping to earn themselves access to the beta. Many players predicted that the live player count would eclipse 2 million when CS2 released.

Instead though, the player count has fallen, and continues to do so, as Valve’s seemingly rushed release of the new Counter-Strike has pushed more players away than it has gained.

CS2 causes player count decline

Counter-Strike 2 was released on September 27, 2023 – exactly one month ago at the time of writing. In the 30 days since then, the average player count has declined by 16.11%, per SteamCharts.

While Counter-Strike is still comfortably the most popular game on Steam, it is undeniably a disappointment that the player count has seen a drop after the release.

For exact numbers, the average player count in August was 922,000, followed by 976,000 in September. In the 30 days since September 27, the average player count is only 818,000.

That is the lowest 30 day average in 2023 since January and February.

CS2 skin market crashes as player count tumbles

A decline in the player count and a lackluster launch has also caused prices to fall in the skin market. While this might be the least of Valve’s worries at the moment, many traders and investors are selling their items amid the uncertainty of CS2’s release.

In particular, high-tier and “liquid” items (skins that typically sell fast) are in decline, with lots of knives also experiencing price reductions. The below index from EsportFire shows prices of a basket of CS2 items.

However, the market is still up from where it was a year ago, following the initial CS2 hype that pushed prices up across the board.

It remains to be seen if the frequent updates from Valve, as well as new content expected to be added, will be enough to bring the player base back.