CS2 vs. VALORANT: a global viewership battle

Ever since the first images of Project A (VALORANT’s old code name) were released, Riot Games’ tactical shooter has been compared to Valve’s Counter-Strike franchise. The similarities are a lot, from the gameplay to the roster of weapons, but the makers of League of Legends have decided to introduce agents and abilities a la Overwatch 2 to spice things up.

After the VALORANT announcement, every major esports organization was counting on Riot starting a competitive league soon after release, and that’s what the developer and publisher did in 2020 with the announcement of the VCT (VALORANT Champions Tour) ecosystem. 

Right then and there, a competition to see who could attract the most spectators and fans started between the two titles and their very different ecosystems.

Thanks to the data gathered by Esports Charts, we have a somewhat clear picture of how this race is going, bearing in mind that the numbers from China, where VALORANT has a big following, are not compiled due to the inaccessibility and unreliable nature of the data from the nation’s streaming platforms. 

Looking at the data from a bird’s eye view, we can see that Counter-Strike 2 (the revamped version of Counter-Strike Global Offensive released in 2023) has surpassed VALORANT in 2024 like it did every year, continuing a trend that’s been going on since the start. One factor to take notice of, however, is that (with the exception of 2021 and 2022) Valve’s title has had almost double the airtime hours of Riot’s.

The ecosystem of these two shooters, however, is shifting at a noticeable pace, especially in terms of strongholds. Counter-Strike’s biggest market has, historically, been the EMEA region, with a lot of interest coming from Eastern Europe. 

South America is also a hotbed for Valve’s shooter fans with many teams competing at high levels. VALORANT, on the other hand, has imposed itself in North America and in Asia, especially in China and Korea.

2024 started a contamination process between these strongholds. In CS 2, for example, The Mongolz — a team from Mongolia who rapidly rose through the ranks — is making waves near the top of the charts and is mobilizing the Asian fan base to develop an interest in CS2. 

Team Spirit’s incredible performances also fostered Russian viewership towards the Serbian team thanks in part to the org’s new prodigy of Russian origins Danil ‘donk’ Kryshkovets. The decision to host the Perfect World Major 2024 in Shanghai also contributed to the familiarizing of the Asian audience to this historic esport ecosystem.

The event, at 1.33m peak viewers (via Esports Charts), was the second-most watched of the year with the PGL Major Copenhagen setting almost a record at 1.85m. CS2’s 2025 has already got the biggest IEM Katowice ever, at 1.3m peak viewers, and a very strong ESL Pro League Season 21 that reached more than 500,000 concurrent viewers.

On the VALORANT side, 2024’s largest event was the VCT Masters Madrid at 1.69m peak viewers followed closely by Champions at 1.4m and Masters Shanghai with 914,000. Not only did the shooter fail to reach the competition at the same location, but it never got even close to matching the hype, the narratives and the storylines generated by CS2. 

2025 has had a decent start for the newer  game with more interest developing in Europe after the Kickoff event and Masters Bangkok, which Riot claims was the most-watched VALORANT Masters event ever. CS2 hasn’t got an event this big yet in 2025 —still, this year’s Katowice is on par with this new record, a signal that both ecosystems are gaining traction from last year’s performances.

The numbers, the history and the buzz on the internet favour Counter-Strike in the battle for 2025 tactical shooter viewership supremacy. The good news is that both titles are experiencing a surge in interest thanks to them exploring the potential of the regions that, historically, have not been their strongholds. 

One other thing to note is that VALORANT — first on the gameplay side and on the competitive side as a result — is distancing itself more and more from CS’s style and flow thanks to new agents that prioritize abilities over gunplay. 

Only time will tell if this strategy will consolidate or disrupt the game’s pro scene which started to have native players only in 2024. Meaning it’s only recently that the bulk of new professionals entering the scene is made by those who started directly in VALORANT and are not former Counter-Strike players.