Does Valorant have a bigger player base than CS2 in 2024?

Valorant’s popularity remains unparalleled 3 years since its official launch compared to Valve’s fresh shooter title, Counter-Strike 2 (CS2). Despite bringing in a lot of new improvements and building on the success of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), it seems that the community expected more out of the sequel. Such factors can hinder the overall size of the player base of almost any online game.

Both Valorant and CS2 are tactical shooters at their core, but Riot ingrained some superhuman abilities alongside it for a fun twist. This made the game more enjoyable and opened up new playstyles and strategies for winning matches on the same map. The same cannot be said about Valve’s shooter, as it features the same old executes but with better visuals.

This article will highlight both the player bases of Valorant and CS2 in 2024.

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What are the player base stats of Valorant and CS2?

Valorant Tracker Network page (Image via Tracker.gg)

Yes, Valorant currently has a bigger player base than CS2. As of writing, we observed that approximately 10,861,340 players played at least one match in January 2024 on the Tracker Network.

Valorant has secured a whopping 6,627,830 player count in its all-time high, while CS2 had a cap of 1,802,853. These stats reflect the massive size of Riot’s shooter title, which is comparatively bigger than Valve managed to amass with its recent game. Despite the hype around CS2, Valorant has managed to maintain a steady graph in terms of player count throughout its lifetime.

CS2 is a Steam game, so it is much easier to find the approximate number of players that have played it. The Steam Charts provide us with the average number of 795,207 players per day in the last 30 days. However, these stats can change quickly over time. The complete stats have not been updated, but we might be able to see a clearer picture as we enter next month.

CS2 player count (Image via Steamcharts.com)

Considering the several-fold difference in the player base, it does not look like CS2 will be able to catch up with Riot’s numbers. Various factors can affect the size of the player base of such first-person shooter titles.

One of the most significant things Riot did right might be the continuous content updates. Combining that with a deeply rooted lore of all the characters, the game has created an emotional bond with the community. This is lacking in Valve’s title as it purely remains a competitive esports-ready title with the same point-and-shoot mechanics.

Valorant’s growing popularity is also due to its easier learning curve and casual play style. While it features some of the highest-level gameplay in international tournaments, it also provides a recreational platform to all ages for a relaxing time. Moreover, with the recent Valorant Premier changes, the Path to Pro has started taking a meaningful shape in the game that can propel talented players directly into the professional scene.

The uniqueness of this hero-shooter stands out distinctly with vidi maps, cosmetics, characters, and abilities over the refreshed and rehashed graphical improvements of CS2.

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