CS:GO turns 10 years old on Aug. 21, and while the game has fierce competitors like VALORANT in the FPS landscape, it’s not slowing down whatsoever. CS:GO teams and players have earned a whopping sum of “over $70 million” in the past 12 months just from Major stickers, according to Valve.
“Ten years. It’s a big number, yet CS:GO is stronger than ever,” Valve said in an official blog post. “Over the past 12 months alone, we’ve seen more players than ever before (averaging over 20 million monthly unique players), record viewership for Majors (2.7m concurrent viewers), and massive community support with over $70 million raised for professional organizations, teams, and players. The future could not look brighter.”
For every Major tournament since the EMS One Katowice Major in 2014, Valve has added team stickers to CS:GO and shared the revenue with the organizations as a way to support the teams and help grow the esport.
From the ESL One Cologne Major in 2015 onwards, Valve has also been releasing player autographs for every Major, which further supports teams and players. The company took a step back at PGL Stockholm Major in 2021 and released player autographs only for the 40 players that reached the playoffs. The decision was heavily criticized by the community, which led Valve to once again release player capsules for everyone at PGL Antwerp Major in May 2022.
In addition to celebrating the big numbers CS:GO has pulled off recently, Valve has also added stickers to commemorate the upcoming 10-year birthday of the game and added several maps, including the new Tuscan, to the official matchmaking servers.
