CS:GO Major in Paris posts impressive streaming with Valve's absence

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The historic Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major in Paris last week -- the final one before a long-anticipated switch to the new version of the game -- ranked among the most-streamed events in CS:GO history. But it also had a black eye with game publisher Valve's notable absence activating on the ground. With streams on Twitch, YouTube, and for the first time TikTok, the event drew the third best peak viewership of any Major, with 1.52 million fans tuning in to watch the finals, per data from Esports Charts. Four of the five most popular matches came from the Legends Stage (finals playoff bracket) of the event, which took place from May 8-21, averaging over 507,000 viewers. From an attendance standpoint, tickets had been sold out months in advance, with 50,000 fans attending over four days at Accor Arena in Paris. And while viewership was good, something that caught fans’ attention was that there was virtually no mention of Valve’s (developer of CS:GO) newest iteration of the game -- Counter-Strike 2. According to the gaming platform and development company, Counter-Strike 2 is the “largest technical leap forward in Counter-Strike’s history” using the new Source 2 graphics engine which is set to launch this summer. To fans and pundits, this seems like a missed opportunity to market the developer’s newest title to over 1.5 million viewers.

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