Shroud claims CSGO will stay top esport over Valorant despite swinging popularity
Twitter: Shroud / ValveMichael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek explained why he believes CSGO will stay on top of Valorant in terms of being an esports spectacle, claiming its simplicity makes it easier for viewers to follow.
CSGO’s viewership is on the rise. The PGL Major Stockholm 2021 smashed the existing viewership record. More than 2.5 million viewers tuned in to watch Navi dominate G2 in the grand final to win the event.
Not only has it quashed age-old claims that CSGO is dying, but it also sparked a conversation about how it compares to its biggest competitor, Valorant. It’s something that shroud has spoken about in the past, too.
This time, though, he approached it from a different angle. He compared them strictly in terms of what it’s like to watch as a spectator and concluded that CSGO’s simplicity makes it a better experience for viewers.
DreamHack“Valorant [requires] a little bit more understanding,” he said. “That’s the tricky part. Like, if you watch CSGO, you can understand [that] smoke is being thrown, or a Molotov, or a grenade. It’s simple, right? Click some heads.”
He explained that Valorant follows the “same concept” as CSGO but has an “extra layer of complexity” – referring to the unique agent abilities. For that reason, he believes spectators “can’t really appreciate it until they play.”
“Meanwhile, I’ve had my grandma watch Counter-Strike and understand it. It’s super simple to understand from a watching perspective for the first time,” he added – implying it will reign supreme as an esports title.
Shroud has been playing Valorant more than CSGO. He’s streamed it for almost 800 hours in 2021 alone. It’s his most-streamed game for the year with more than double the hours of New World, which is second on the list.
But despite that, he’s more optimistic about CSGO’s future as an esports title than ever before, and it seems like the community is, too.