The Game Census
Counter-Strike cover art

Counter-Strike

Valve · 2000-11-01

Steam

Action

Franchise: Half-Life · Modes: Multiplayer · Perspectives: First person

Releases: Nov 09, 2000 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), Feb 14, 2013 (Mac), Feb 14, 2013 (Linux)

Play the world's number 1 online action game. Engage in an incredibly realistic brand of terrorist warfare in this wildly popular team-based game. Ally with teammates to complete strategic missions. Take out enemy sites. Rescue hostages. Your role affects your team's success. Your team's success affects your role.

Counter-Strike is an Action game released in 2000, priced at $9.99, with an estimated 10,000,000 .. 20,000,000 owners and Overwhelmingly Positive (97% of 261820 reviews).

7,176
playing now
97%
positive of 262k reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
steam's rating (official)
10,000,000–20,000,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
40
twitch viewers (latest)
4.4
viewers/channel (concentration)
70/100
critic score (2 outlets, IGDB)
83/100
IGDB user rating (764 ratings)
15h
to beat · rushed 9h · completionist 761h
gold
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Playable
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
$9.99
steam price (US)

7,176 players in-game as of 2026-10-14 10:00 UTC (census sample)

Counter-Strike is a 2000 tactical first-person shooter game developed by Valve Corporation and published by Sierra Studios. It is the first installment in the Counter-Strike series.

Trailer

Counter-Strike trailer thumbnail

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Trailer

≈1,000,000 YouTube results for this game's trailer search

Health check

Healthy
  • · 7,176 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 6,534 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~817/week).
  • · Review velocity down 21% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 1% of 27,656 Action games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-09-17

Tier history: thriving→healthy (Sep 17), healthy→thriving (Sep 16), thriving→healthy (Sep 16), healthy→thriving (Sep 16), unknown→healthy (Aug 29)

Estimated sales: 10M–21M copies

Review-multiple estimate from 262,318 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

Steam$1.99-80%

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

12-month high $1.99 · on sale 0 of 7 observed days (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
4.5k4.5k20182026Week of 2018-03-01: 811 positiveWeek of 2018-03-01: 45 negativeWeek of 2018-04-01: 587 positiveWeek of 2018-04-01: 30 negativeWeek of 2018-05-01: 683 positiveWeek of 2018-05-01: 34 negativeWeek of 2018-06-01: 1,104 positiveWeek of 2018-06-01: 69 negativeWeek of 2018-07-01: 1,019 positiveWeek of 2018-07-01: 60 negativeWeek of 2018-08-01: 651 positiveWeek of 2018-08-01: 30 negativeWeek of 2018-09-01: 465 positiveWeek of 2018-09-01: 22 negativeWeek of 2018-10-01: 454 positiveWeek of 2018-10-01: 27 negativeWeek of 2018-11-01: 2,875 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 61 negativeWeek of 2018-12-01: 1,086 positiveWeek of 2018-12-01: 61 negativeWeek of 2019-01-01: 883 positiveWeek of 2019-01-01: 58 negativeWeek of 2019-02-01: 790 positiveWeek of 2019-02-01: 44 negativeWeek of 2019-03-01: 560 positiveWeek of 2019-03-01: 31 negativeWeek of 2019-04-01: 458 positiveWeek of 2019-04-01: 19 negativeWeek of 2019-05-01: 549 positiveWeek of 2019-05-01: 27 negativeWeek of 2019-06-01: 2,815 positiveWeek of 2019-06-01: 78 negativeWeek of 2019-07-01: 2,794 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 73 negativeWeek of 2019-08-01: 445 positiveWeek of 2019-08-01: 22 negativeWeek of 2019-09-01: 366 positiveWeek of 2019-09-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2019-10-01: 684 positiveWeek of 2019-10-01: 28 negativeWeek of 2019-11-01: 3,609 positiveWeek of 2019-11-01: 84 negativeWeek of 2019-12-01: 2,806 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 80 negativeWeek of 2020-01-01: 1,960 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 40 negativeWeek of 2020-02-01: 1,390 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 61 negativeWeek of 2020-03-01: 1,929 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 58 negativeWeek of 2020-04-01: 2,215 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 60 negativeWeek of 2020-05-01: 1,857 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 53 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 1,767 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 65 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 1,863 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 68 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 1,428 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 63 negativeWeek of 2020-09-01: 1,089 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 39 negativeWeek of 2020-10-01: 1,167 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 32 negativeWeek of 2020-11-01: 2,734 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 52 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 2,115 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 61 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 1,909 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 61 negativeWeek of 2021-02-01: 1,265 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 33 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 1,399 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 44 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 1,243 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 38 negativeWeek of 2021-05-01: 1,283 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 48 negativeWeek of 2021-06-01: 1,494 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 68 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 1,678 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 56 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 1,159 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 55 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 1,058 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 31 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 1,018 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 37 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 4,491 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 77 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 1,663 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 50 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 1,601 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 58 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 1,249 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 46 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 1,048 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 42 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 898 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 40 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 829 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 42 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 1,028 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 40 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 1,249 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 58 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 958 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 39 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 813 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 22 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 830 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 38 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 4,234 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 81 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 1,700 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 62 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 1,606 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 56 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 1,086 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 36 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 1,626 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 43 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 1,135 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 48 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 1,013 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 42 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 930 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 32 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 1,524 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 54 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 981 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 47 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 1,362 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 56 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 1,371 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 54 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 3,680 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 129 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 1,346 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 66 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 1,273 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 59 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 1,031 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 36 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 1,308 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 59 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 989 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 46 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 879 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 37 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 954 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 52 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 1,436 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 71 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 959 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 45 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 823 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 37 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 880 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 31 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 2,109 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 60 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 1,568 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 72 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 1,275 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 49 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 977 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 47 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 1,234 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 51 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 811 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 27 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 765 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 35 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 842 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 42 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 925 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 37 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 769 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 33 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 697 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 39 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 1,005 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 46 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 1,538 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 43 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 1,062 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 45 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 1,090 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 55 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 866 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 31 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 1,111 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 52 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 802 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 40 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 703 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 27 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 694 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 35 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 808 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 42 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 649 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 37 negativeWeek of 2026-09-01: 612 positiveWeek of 2026-09-01: 25 negativeWeek of 2026-10-01: 300 positiveWeek of 2026-10-01: 15 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

14k02026-09-15 11:00 — 7,806 players2026-09-15 23:00 — 5,840 players2026-09-16 01:00 — 5,433 players2026-09-16 03:00 — 4,955 players2026-09-16 05:00 — 4,083 players2026-09-16 07:00 — 4,008 players2026-09-16 09:00 — 4,703 players2026-09-16 12:00 — 7,244 players2026-09-16 15:00 — 10,852 players2026-09-16 17:00 — 11,595 players2026-09-16 19:00 — 11,065 players2026-09-16 21:00 — 8,271 players2026-09-17 00:00 — 6,193 players2026-09-17 11:00 — 7,892 players2026-09-18 19:00 — 12,635 players2026-09-20 02:00 — 6,329 players2026-09-21 10:00 — 6,425 players2026-09-22 17:00 — 12,699 players2026-09-24 01:00 — 5,994 players2026-09-25 08:00 — 5,460 players2026-09-26 16:00 — 11,433 players2026-09-27 23:00 — 6,147 players2026-09-29 07:00 — 5,374 players2026-09-30 14:00 — 10,819 players2026-10-01 22:00 — 7,704 players2026-10-03 05:00 — 6,010 players2026-10-04 14:00 — 12,795 players2026-10-05 21:00 — 8,637 players2026-10-07 05:00 — 5,361 players2026-10-08 12:00 — 9,694 players2026-10-09 20:00 — 12,764 players2026-10-11 03:00 — 6,909 players2026-10-12 11:00 — 8,407 players2026-10-13 18:00 — 13,086 players2026-10-14 10:00 — 7,176 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
35k6.9kJul 2012Aug 2026Jul 2012 — avg 34,139 · peak 53,967Dec 2012 — avg 31,996 · peak 61,189May 2013 — avg 19,901 · peak 36,913Oct 2013 — avg 19,081 · peak 36,655Mar 2014 — avg 20,485 · peak 39,230Aug 2014 — avg 18,023 · peak 29,564Jan 2015 — avg 19,767 · peak 37,018Jun 2015 — avg 14,250 · peak 24,177Nov 2015 — avg 13,845 · peak 26,133Apr 2016 — avg 13,668 · peak 24,994Sep 2016 — avg 12,584 · peak 21,984Feb 2017 — avg 15,626 · peak 28,071Jul 2017 — avg 11,728 · peak 20,303Dec 2017 — avg 13,737 · peak 25,689May 2018 — avg 10,832 · peak 18,895Oct 2018 — avg 9,747 · peak 18,183Mar 2019 — avg 10,527 · peak 19,302Aug 2019 — avg 9,160 · peak 14,902Jan 2020 — avg 10,198 · peak 19,141Jun 2020 — avg 12,076 · peak 21,446Nov 2020 — avg 11,279 · peak 20,908Apr 2021 — avg 12,426 · peak 21,562Sep 2021 — avg 8,461 · peak 14,559Feb 2022 — avg 10,557 · peak 18,714Jul 2022 — avg 9,027 · peak 14,019Dec 2022 — avg 9,174 · peak 16,245May 2023 — avg 7,764 · peak 13,587Oct 2023 — avg 8,002 · peak 14,219Mar 2024 — avg 8,871 · peak 15,954Aug 2024 — avg 8,874 · peak 14,878Jan 2025 — avg 11,905 · peak 20,626Jun 2025 — avg 8,205 · peak 15,798Nov 2025 — avg 7,908 · peak 14,191Apr 2026 — avg 8,216 · peak 14,168Aug 2026 — avg 7,957 · peak 12,706
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Chart history

#91#912026-09-152026-09-172026-09-15 — #912026-09-16 — #912026-09-17 — #91
Best Steam most-played rank per day (census top-100 snapshots).
PositiveNegative
41412026-09-162026-10-142026-09-16: 26 new positive2026-09-16: 1 new negative2026-09-18: 16 new positive2026-09-18: 1 new negative2026-09-20: 12 new positive2026-09-20: 1 new negative2026-09-21: 12 new positive2026-09-22: 18 new positive2026-09-23: 28 new positive2026-09-24: 9 new positive2026-09-25: 20 new positive2026-09-26: 7 new positive2026-09-26: 2 new negative2026-09-27: 7 new positive2026-09-27: 1 new negative2026-09-29: 21 new positive2026-09-30: 7 new positive2026-10-01: 7 new positive2026-10-01: 1 new negative2026-10-02: 10 new positive2026-10-02: 1 new negative2026-10-03: 41 new positive2026-10-03: 1 new negative2026-10-04: 29 new positive2026-10-04: 3 new negative2026-10-05: 33 new positive2026-10-05: 1 new negative2026-10-06: 35 new positive2026-10-06: 1 new negative2026-10-07: 14 new positive2026-10-08: 29 new positive2026-10-09: 20 new positive2026-10-09: 4 new negative2026-10-10: 13 new positive2026-10-10: 2 new negative2026-10-11: 23 new positive2026-10-12: 41 new positive2026-10-12: 1 new negative2026-10-13: 20 new positive2026-10-13: 3 new negative2026-10-14: 14 new positive2026-10-14: 1 new negative
New Steam reviews per day (census review snapshots). Positive above the line, negative below.

Price history

$14.99$0.992015-01-012026-10-082015-01-01 — best price $3.742015-01-03 — best price $9.992015-03-16 — best price $14.992015-06-11 — best price $7.492015-06-23 — best price $9.992015-07-12 — best price $9.992015-07-23 — best price $9.992015-12-01 — best price $9.992016-01-04 — best price $9.992016-02-12 — best price $9.992016-03-25 — best price $9.992016-04-01 — best price $9.992016-10-23 — best price $9.992018-07-05 — best price $9.992018-11-27 — best price $9.992019-01-03 — best price $9.992019-02-11 — best price $9.992019-07-09 — best price $9.992019-12-03 — best price $9.992020-01-02 — best price $9.992020-07-09 — best price $9.992020-12-01 — best price $9.992021-01-05 — best price $9.992026-10-03 — best price $1.992026-10-05 — best price $1.992026-10-07 — best price $1.992026-10-08 — best price $1.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

6573782026-05-31 — 483 pageviews2026-06-04 — 498 pageviews2026-06-08 — 552 pageviews2026-06-12 — 448 pageviews2026-06-16 — 476 pageviews2026-06-20 — 590 pageviews2026-06-24 — 570 pageviews2026-06-28 — 481 pageviews2026-07-02 — 500 pageviews2026-07-06 — 458 pageviews2026-07-10 — 452 pageviews2026-07-14 — 451 pageviews2026-07-18 — 466 pageviews2026-07-22 — 419 pageviews2026-07-26 — 477 pageviews2026-07-30 — 519 pageviews2026-08-03 — 430 pageviews2026-08-07 — 521 pageviews2026-08-11 — 497 pageviews2026-08-15 — 490 pageviews2026-08-19 — 501 pageviews2026-08-23 — 557 pageviews2026-08-27 — 657 pageviews2026-08-31 — 481 pageviews2026-09-04 — 506 pageviews2026-09-08 — 477 pageviews2026-09-12 — 614 pageviews2026-09-16 — 504 pageviews2026-09-20 — 457 pageviews2026-09-24 — 536 pageviews2026-09-28 — 537 pageviews2026-10-02 — 470 pageviews2026-10-06 — 468 pageviews2026-10-09 — 501 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Twitch viewers

350k402026-09-30 22:12 — 18,655 viewers2026-10-01 07:12 — 7,918 viewers2026-10-01 16:12 — 52,588 viewers2026-10-02 01:12 — 9,575 viewers2026-10-02 10:12 — 15,189 viewers2026-10-02 19:12 — 74,992 viewers2026-10-03 04:12 — 7,136 viewers2026-10-03 13:12 — 115,670 viewers2026-10-03 22:12 — 22,791 viewers2026-10-04 07:12 — 8,690 viewers2026-10-04 16:12 — 156,992 viewers2026-10-05 01:12 — 20,077 viewers2026-10-05 10:12 — 98,306 viewers2026-10-05 19:12 — 273,349 viewers2026-10-06 04:12 — 5,956 viewers2026-10-06 13:12 — 187,366 viewers2026-10-06 22:12 — 188,814 viewers2026-10-07 07:12 — 11,205 viewers2026-10-07 16:12 — 197,713 viewers2026-10-08 01:12 — 9,060 viewers2026-10-08 10:12 — 21,245 viewers2026-10-08 19:12 — 91,333 viewers2026-10-09 04:12 — 9,341 viewers2026-10-09 13:12 — 175,281 viewers2026-10-09 22:12 — 25,635 viewers2026-10-10 07:12 — 10,788 viewers2026-10-10 16:12 — 251,959 viewers2026-10-11 01:12 — 12,883 viewers2026-10-11 10:12 — 23,333 viewers2026-10-11 19:12 — 31,926 viewers2026-10-12 04:12 — 18,829 viewers2026-10-12 13:12 — 61,849 viewers2026-10-12 22:12 — 62,125 viewers2026-10-13 07:12 — 9,273 viewers2026-10-13 16:12 — 49,129 viewers2026-10-14 01:12 — 18,447 viewers2026-10-14 10:12 — 58,034 viewers2026-10-14 19:12 — 89,935 viewers2026-10-14 21:34 — 40 viewers
Hourly Twitch viewers (census snapshots).

Details

WindowsmacOSLinuxMulti-playerPvPOnline PvPShared/Split Screen PvPColor AlternativesCustom Volume ControlsKeyboard Only OptionStereo SoundValve Anti-Cheat enabledFamily Sharing

7 supported languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish - Spain, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese

Where its players are

Share of Steam reviews by language (top languages measured) — a proxy for where the player base lives.

Player tags

FPSPvP1990'sActionClassicShooterMilitaryStrategyTacticale-sports

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Players also track

Half-LifeCounter-Strike: Condition ZeroCall of Duty® (2003)Call of Duty® 2Call of Duty® 4: Modern Warfare® (2007)Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon®Rogue Warrior

Similarity via IGDB.

Official site ↗Wikipedia ↗