Valorant has been a pretty big esports success since it launched. The game takes some aspects of hero shooters, but its core gameplay is very recognizably tied to CS2. The title shares a lot of qualities with Counter-Strike and the gunplay, in particular, can feel particularly similar. Both games make for a pretty good comparison, but looking at the CS2 vs Valorant player count, which is more popular?
The CS2 vs Valorant player count can go some way to show which of the two games is bigger. Riot has already achieved an impressive player count, but how exactly do they measure up in a direct comparison?
CS2 VS VALORANT PLAYER COUNT – WHICH HAS MORE PLAYERS?
Figuring out the exact player base for a game is always difficult. There are loads of metrics including sales, total player counts, and peak players online. None are perfect, but between these metrics, we can get a pretty good idea of popularity. Looking at the player counts, we can see whether Valorant is close to CS2 in terms of its popularity.
Looking at the CS2 vs Valorant player count reveals some very interesting data. Valorant used to be the new kid on the block, but is now a bit more established in the tactical-shooter space. Despite this, CS2 is the old faithful. With its timeless gameplay and familiar maps, it seems that gamers just can’t let go of CS2.
There are plenty of gamers who play both. Being able to convert CS2 to Valortant sens makes it much easier to jump between the two games, allowing gamers much more choice in which one they play at any given time.
First, let’s take a look at Valorant’s player count:
- July 2024: 10,018,956
- June 2024: 20,921,643
- May 2024: 19,131,711
- April 2024: 19,464,141
- March 2024: 19,584,691
- February 2024: 18,029,094
- January 2024: 18,318,806
- December 2023: 17,120,199
- November 2023: 16,466,371
- October 2023: 17,276,900
- September 2023: 18,499,056
- August 2023: 19,894,500
According to tracker.gg, Valorant boasts around 10 million players per month at the moment. It’s a solid player count, indicative of a very healthy game. It certainly isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Looking at the trends over time confirms that the Valorant player count has remained pretty steady over the last year or so, meaning those who play the game seem to be here to stay.
Unfortunately, trackers for CS2’s player count work slightly differently from Valorant, making it hard to compare the two. With CS2, we can see concurrent players directly from Steam, but not however many log in monthly. With a peak player count over the last 30 days of 1,510,840 concurrent players, and an average player count during this period of 935,564, it isn’t hard to imagine that CS2 wins out in the “CS2 vs Valorant player count” comparison.
When it was first released, Valorant was the shiny new toy. Everyone wanted to play with it, and we even saw CS2 pros make the jump at the time. When CS2 released, many gamers have turned their back on Valorant and all of its offerings. The competitive scene for CS has never been better, and it seems as though the game has an extremely bright future ahead of it, despite already being over a decade old.
That’s not to say Valorant can’t win players over. It can, but Riot Games will need to be in it for the long haul if it is to compete with the juggernaut of Counter-Strike.
VALORANT VS CS2 ESPORTS
Valorant and Counter-Strike 2 are both games with huge followings competitively. So, looking at the CS2 vs Valorant player count is just one way to compare the two. We can also look at esports viewership to see how popular these games are to watch as well as play.
CS2 was the default esport for FPS fans, with the most active scene and follower count. Last year’s Valorant Champions events saw a peak of 1,291,045 viewers, but putting this up against the recent CS2 tournament, the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024, we saw a peak viewership of 1,853,954 viewers.
This means that while Valorant was a match for CS2 in players, viewers have been much harder to come by. As with that other metric though, Valorant is still very much growing in this department. Their viewership is trending upwards, and there’s a lot more interest in things like Valorant betting going on. You do have to keep note, Counter-Strike 2 has a consistent esports scene with plenty more action going on daily when compared to Valorant, so the viewer count is spread more evenly.
It’ll be interesting to see how things change throughout the rest of 2024, the battle between new and old, now becomes battle between new and newer and now we started tracking Valorant vs CS2 player counts.
