And the party has already started.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a first person shooter, nay, the first person shooter that runs eSports these days. Halo and Call of Duty have both dropped below the popularity of CS:GO. But what is CS:GO’s history? The original Counter-Strike was released on November 1st, 2000, as a Steam exclusive. The tenth game on Steam and developed by Valve themselves, it was a major hit then, and its two sequels haven’t wavered in popularity.

Counter-Strike: Source still has a large playerbase despite being released 13 years ago (and on the same day as the original CS as well). CS:GO, however, was released on August 21st of 2012. Breaking the November 1st trend, but revolutionizing the gameplay that people around the globe loved. Back in August of 2012, CS:GO peaked at 52,261 players concurrently. These days, that number is as high as 600,000, the highest it has ever been being 850,485 players in April of 2016. (Source: SteamCharts) The playerbase almost consistently grows with each passing update, and dedicated players have spent millions of dollars on skins alone. The way the skin economy works is a whole other story. It can mainly be explained by one statement: Although CS:GO was designed around military weaponry, people don’t want to feel like soldiers. They want to feel like CS:GO players.

Earlier CS:GO’s eSports scene was mentioned. This is also ever growing, with 16 teams currently training to compete in the 2017 Premier Season. CS:GO’s total prize pool trumps Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare by nearly $35 million. Counter-Strike: Source is barely below CoD, and the original Counter-Strike is about $9 million above CoD. Brazil won last season's tournament, but the highest grossing countries are Sweden and Denmark.

CS:GO’s most recent update added in a few birthday surprises. On top of some common bug fixes, the update gives chickens party hats, makes the Zeus shoot confetti, and bomb explosions cause balloons to fly into the air. The update is also classified as a major update to celebrate both CS:GO’s fifth birthday and the Solar Eclipse that occurred yesterday in the United States. Anyone playing since day 1 can also finally get their 5 year veteran coin.