To the naysayers who believed Counter-Strike 2 was destined to fail, you want solely see the reception for IEM Katowice this previous weekend to understand how incorrect you actually had been.
This yr’s version of the long-lasting Polish event went above and past 2023’s iteration for viewership and recognition, with a median of 287,177 concurrent viewers, based on gaming stats website Esports Charts—20 % larger than IEM Katowice 2023. The grand closing, which noticed Group Spirit upset FaZe Clan with a best-of-five sweep, did fall simply shy of the million mark with 972,119 viewers tuning in to look at, however ultimately, over 150,000 extra keen followers tuned in for this yr’s closing when in comparison with G2’s win over Heroic final yr.
Viewership for the Katowice group stage was additionally up: in a Wednesday, Feb. 7 report, Esports Charts famous a 29 % enhance in common concurrents by means of the teams and an 11 % enhance in watch time. The watch time increase is of utmost significance given the drop to MR12, which means matches are, on common, shorter than they had been in CS:GO with MR15, however nonetheless, followers remained engaged all through the glamourous occasion.
Much more spectacular, the viewers got here regardless of a few of the hottest CS2 gamers and groups being absent from the finals. Between ZywOo and Vitality’s shock early exit, the rise of hometown heroes ENCE, and G2’s elimination by the hands of FaZe within the quarterfinals, followers had been handled to the brand new period of professional CS2 led by Spirit’s donk, who equaled the report for a person participant score at any huge occasion. You might be certain Spirit will likely be prime billing going ahead if solely to witness the 17-year-old wunderkind proceed to impress on the worldwide stage.
Spirit’s win within the Spodek Enviornment kicks off what is predicted to be a bumper two months of aggressive CS2, with the second version of IEM in Chengdu pencilled in for April. Even earlier than that although, there’s the massive one: CS2’s first Main in Copenhagen in mid-March. The RMR qualifiers for the PGL Copenhagen Main begin on Wednesday.
With the RMR qualifiers alone already shattering pre-Main viewership data, and a flurry of main updates coming not too long ago as Valve works on enhancing the title, it’s secure to say Counter-Strike is in a powerful spot because the 2024 season actually will get underway.
