A Dark Future For CS:GO

In the growing world of esport, one first-person shooter game has stood the test of time through multiple decades, which is Counter-Strike. But the tides might be changing, as some of the biggest game developers are starting to compete for the esport fans’ attention with new games on the horizon.

Is Valorant a Threat to Counter-Strike?

Games such as Valorant has had a huge impact on the professional Counter-Strike scene, as many of the pro players have switched to this new contender. Mainly due to the reason that Valorant offers the closest experience to what Counter-Strike has been doing for years.

The developer behind Valorant, Riot Games, has already created the most popular videogame in the world, League of Legends. They have all the tools to make Valorant their next successor in the world of esports, and is one of the major reasons that Counter-Strike might be in trouble.

Valorant has already cemented itself as a big threat, with viewing numbers comparable to the biggest games on streaming services such as Twitch. And it looks like the game will keep increasing in viewers for many years to come.

Can Counter-Strike Keep on growing?

Despite games such as Valorant competing for the viewers and player base, Counter-Strike keeps on growing larger and larger. More tournaments are held each year, with bigger prize pools for every event. On top of that, the salaries that the biggest organizations offer to the players keeps increasing.

A key factor for Counter-Strike’s continuous success is the fans. The game has one of the most loyal fanbases, that invests many hours of their lives into following their favorite teams, which they could have a hard time keeping if more professional players switch to Valorant.

This also happens to be some of the few things that keep the game from falling in viewers, as the game itself has a hard time adapting to the needs of the player base, that keeps evolving. And they need to rely on more than the esports scene, in order to maintain the game’s popularity in the future.

So what happens next for CS:GO?

The game has as mentioned, been popular for many decades, and will have to reinvent itself at some point to keep that trend going. Whether the right answer is investing more into the esports scene or updating the game for the better, is still uncertain.

But seeing that the game has survived as an esports under a pandemic, it might be a sign that the game isn’t done just yet.

Only time will tell what happens to Counter-Strike, and we will just have to wait and see how Valve and the people around the game make sure it stays alive.