Counter-Strike: Global Offensive launched on August 21, 2012 and broke the concurrent player record on February 11, 2023: 1,320,219 players were in the game at the time of this writing; the previous record was set three years ago at 1, The previous record was 1, 308,963 three years ago.

Counter-Strike's history dates back to 1999, when it began as a Half-Life mod; Valve bought the rights to the mod, hired a co-creator, and decided to release the mod on its own; Counter-Strike 1.0 is now 23 years old ( (Open in new tab).

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is the latest version of what the official Twitter account calls "your favorite first-person shooter's favorite first-person shooter." While it has features that were not present in the previous version, it is still essentially the same game, and there are dozens of ways to play it, but the quintessential CS is that five terrorists attempt to plant a bomb in one of two bases, and five counter-terrorists instigate a counter-terrorist to stop them This is called.

CS: GO did not launch in the best of conditions, and there were significant changes in the first few years; you could make a good argument that, in addition to the unshakable core of Counter-Strike goodness, what really saved CS: GO was a $400 knife (opens in new tab). But what started as a console port (opens in new tab) is now the best competitive FPS of all time and the most popular game on Steam.

I've probably played more CS: GO than any other game. That doesn't mean I'm good at it. I was recently discussing trash-talking on PCG Towers, and I had to tell a story about a time when my team lost a CS: GO game. And a gentleman with a Russian accent from the other team noticed my 10-year veteran coins (a little trinket that Valve gives out to long-term players) in the lobby afterwards. Through voice chat, he boo-booed, "This guy has been playing since I was a little baby and he's still beating me," and everyone started laughing hysterically. I have never psychologically recovered from that burn, but as you can tell, these moments are what I live for.

If you want to try the best PC game ever, now is your chance: CS: GO is available for free on Steam (opens in a new tab). This beginner's guide will help you get off to the right start (opens in new tab). And while CS lovers will complain about the game, and it may seem a bit daunting from the outside looking in, there's a lot to like about it, from the chickens (opens in new tab) to the "door won't open!" tattoos (open in new tab) as absolutely adored as the purely awesome moments (open in new tab), it's a huge community. Come on in: dusty and wonderful (opens in new tab).