Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
For over two decades, Counter-Strike has offered an elite competitive experience, one shaped by millions of players from across the globe. And now the next chapter in the CS story is about to begin. This is Counter-Strike 2.
Your like matters. Every heart nudges this game's GamingPickz Score and where it ranks (a small 5% of the score), so the lists get better for everyone.
- Released
- 2012
- Developer
- Valve
- Platforms
- 1 systems
- Critics
- Not scored
- Steam Deck
- playable
- Download
- 85 GB
What is Counter-Strike: Global Offensive?
For over two decades, Counter-Strike has offered an elite competitive experience, one shaped by millions of players from across the globe. And now the next chapter in the CS story is about to begin. This is Counter-Strike 2.
Description as published by the developer on its own store page, read 30 August 2026. It is marketing copy, not our assessment.
The record
| First released | 20 August 2012 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Valve |
| Publisher | Valve |
| Platforms | PC |
| Genres | First-Person Shooter, Strategy |
| Languages | 29 supported |
Source. Catalogue facts from Wikidata , seeded TBA. Store data from Steam, read 30 August 2026.
How was Counter-Strike: Global Offensive received?
Method. Player figures are Steam's own totals for the PC version, read 30 August 2026. The Metacritic score is the one Steam publishes on its store page and can lag the site itself. Neither is our opinion. We have not published a review of this game.
Accessibility
Seeing
- Color Alternatives
- Camera Comfort
Hearing
- Custom Volume Controls
- Stereo Sound
- Surround Sound
Input
- Playable without Timed Input
Difficulty
None declared
Method. Features the publisher declared on its own store page. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
What does it support?
| Capability | Support |
|---|---|
| Controller | Not stated |
| Cloud saves | No |
| Cross-platform play | Yes |
| Mod support | Steam Workshop |
| Online play | Yes |
| In-game purchases | Yes |
| Steam Deck | playable |
| Download size | 85 GB |
| Add-on content | 1 DLC listed |
| Age gate | None |
Content descriptors
- Frequent violence or gore
- General mature content
Method. Read from the publisher's Steam listing on 30 August 2026. Describes the PC version. Console versions differ.
What does it cost?
Steam price in US dollars, read 30 August 2026. Prices move hourly and vary by region. Check the current price.
Is Counter-Strike: Global Offensive worth it?
86% of 9,826,211 Steam reviews are positive, which Steam rates Very Positive. It is free to play. About 1,013,936 people were playing at once when we last checked, so it is still active.
That is the data, not a verdict for sale: whether it is worth it depends on the price you pay and what you want. Players do report problems — see the reported-problems section below before buying. We have not published our own review of this game.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive system requirements
The minimum requirements from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive's Steam page. These are what it takes to launch and be playable, not to run at high settings.
| Memory | 8 GB RAM (other games at this level) |
|---|---|
| Processor | 4 hardware CPU threads - Intel® Core™ i5 750 |
| Graphics | Video card must be 1 GB · runs on a low-end GPU |
| Storage | 85 GB (more games this size) |
Where Counter-Strike: Global Offensive sits on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueCounter-Strike: Global Offensive plotted on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so its position is its real one. Change either axis to see where it lands.
1 games have both
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
Is Counter-Strike: Global Offensive still active? Players right now
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has a top-tier live audience: 1,013,936 people were playing at once when we last read Steam on 19 October 2026. This is a snapshot, not a live counter, and it is a recent concurrent reading rather than an all-time record. For what is trending across the catalogue right now, see the pulse.
How many people own Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
This is an estimate, not a sales figure, and the two are not interchangeable. SteamSpy samples public profiles and publishes a range; the range here spans a factor of 2.0, and that width is the honest part of it. We show both ends rather than a midpoint, because a midpoint would look like a measurement.
Steam only. Console and storefront sales are not counted, so a game that sold heavily elsewhere reads low here. Read on 19 October 2026. Where a publisher has announced a real unit figure, that appears separately and carries its source.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive price & deals: is it on sale?
We have one reading so far: Free on 30 August 2026. Prices are checked daily from here, and this becomes a chart once there is more than one point to join. A single observation is a price, not a history.
Latest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive updates & patch notes
Pulled from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive's own Steam feed on 5 September 2026. Posts marked as from the studio were written by the developer; the rest are articles Steam syndicated from elsewhere. Every one links to its source.
What readers say about Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Reviews written by people who have played it. These are separate from the GamingPickz Score and are never averaged into it: that score comes from thousands of Steam reviews with a sample-size correction, and a handful of unverified ratings would distort it rather than improve it.
Loading reviews…
Problems players report
We read the 300 most recent negative Steam reviews of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on 14 September 2026 and counted what they mention. These are complaints, not confirmed defects: we have not reproduced any of them, and a review describes one person's machine. What the counts tell you is which problems more than one person ran into.
- Launchers, accounts and anti-cheat24 of 300 (8%)
The fact that a game of this size still has such a laughable anti-cheat situation is beyond disappointing.
Steam review, 12 September 2026 · 2,887 hours played · 7 readers marked it helpfulfree fire has better anti cheat
Steam review, 13 September 2026 · 50 hours played · 2 readers marked it helpful
Counted by keyword across review text, so a review discussing two problems is counted under both. Read the reviews yourself.
We also watch r/CSGO for problem reports about Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Nothing has come up recently.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive mods
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive supports Steam Workshop, and the 20 most-installed mods have 185,344,794 subscribers between them. The most installed is crashz' Crosshair Generator v3 (CS2 Link in Description).
Did it run on your PC?
Tell other players how it ran on your machine. One tap, from your saved PC if you have one.
Where Counter-Strike: Global Offensive appears
The ranked lists and finder pages Counter-Strike: Global Offensive qualifies for, from its own genre and platform to what it takes to run.
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Games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
24 games overlap with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on the tags Steam players applied to it, on genre, and on theme. The closest are Counter-Strike: Source, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege and Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead.
Part of the Counter-Strike series
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is one of 5 Counter-Strike games we track. See the whole series ranked by the GamingPickz Score, plotted on the grid, and listed in release order:
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive head to head
See Counter-Strike: Global Offensive compared side by side, on score, price, specs and more:
More Counter-Strike: Global Offensive comparisons: vs Call of Duty: Ghosts, vs Thunder Tier One, vs World of Tanks Blitz, vs Counter-Strike: Condition Zero
Common questions about Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
What platforms is Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on?
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is available on PC. It first released in 2012.
Is Counter-Strike: Global Offensive free?
Yes. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is free to download on Steam. It carries in-game purchases.
Do players recommend Counter-Strike: Global Offensive?
86% of 9,826,211 Steam reviews are positive, which Steam rates Very Positive. That is players rating it, not our review. We have not published a review of this game.
Does Counter-Strike: Global Offensive work on Steam Deck?
Valve rates Counter-Strike: Global Offensive as playable on the Steam Deck, from its own testing.
How big is the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive download?
85 GB on PC, from the storage requirement on its Steam listing. Console versions differ.
Who made Counter-Strike: Global Offensive?
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive was developed by Valve and published by Valve.
Is Counter-Strike: Global Offensive worth it in 2026?
86% of 9,826,211 Steam reviews are positive (Very Positive), and it is free to play. That is the strongest signal we hold; "worth it" depends on the price you pay and what you want, so weigh the sentiment against the current price above.
Is Counter-Strike: Global Offensive dead?
No. About 1,013,936 people were in-game at once when we last read Steam's concurrent-player figure. Peak activity is higher; this is a recent snapshot, not the all-time peak.
What are the system requirements for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive?
At minimum, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive needs 8 GB RAM, a 4 hardware CPU threads - Intel® Core™ i5 750, a Video card must be 1 GB, 85 GB of storage, from its Steam listing. That is what it takes to launch and be playable, not to run at high settings. Check it against your own PC on the can-I-run page.