Counter-Strike: Global Offensive just keeps on breaking its own records, and not over long periods of time; it's been a good month for the multiplayer tactical shooter in terms of its player threshold. As of today, the game has broken its player record for the third time in February 2020, and its previous record was set in the second week of the month at 901,681 players.
In addition, February's first record (which happened in the very first week) was set at 876,575 players, which means that Counter-Strike: Global Offensive's player count jumped by over 25,000 in one week--and even more by the end of the month. Steam Charts clocked each of the records, illustrating just how popular the long-running game has become.
The most recent data provided by Valve's Steam Charts shows that the new player count record is 916,996 players using the game concurrently; that means Global Offensive saw an impressive jump of around 40,000 players in the space of just a few weeks. Players are flocking in the masses to the game, which is officially 8 years old this year, and the Counter-Strike series is much older than even that by over a decade. Not only that, but Global Offensive has proven over the last several months to be capable of both attracting new players and keeping them coming back. Player count average has held steady at over 400,000 players since August 2019, and this January's average player count rose to over 500,000.
Of course, Global Offensive players probably wouldn't be surprised at the number their game is pulling, considering that its competitive play represents one of the largest esports scenes. Around the beginning of the month, Global Offensive also got a brand new update--which explains the uptick in players rushing to explore the substantial alterations made to a number of maps, and other tweaks made to the game. Not to mention the fact that Counter-Strike actually does have a global offensive, and Brazil will be hosting the first major next year (apparently there's a pretty big fanbase there).
Perhaps Global Offensive's numbers will keep on growing; it certainly seems like the game is on a roll, and time will tell if Valve can keep things going in the future.
Source: Steam Charts