Back in March, Valve announced that its multiplayer online first-person shooter CS:GO would be upgraded for free into Counter Strike 2 during the upcoming summer. Following the excitement evoked by the news, the game's concurrent online player count has since broke its previous record by reaching 1.5 million.

However, this record has been broken again within just two months — as of May 7, 2023, the peak number of concurrent online players has surpassed 1.8 million. Of course, it's possible that the announcement of CS2, which will adjust the current gun skins and knife models in the CS:GO marketplace, has caused their prices to rise as the update will make them more visually appealing. This indirectly leads to players being more willing to grind and sell their in-game items.

In addition, as usual, Valve will release Viewer Passes for the upcoming BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 starting on May 8, 2023. The passes include player autograph stickers and team stickers, and completing specific challenges will earn you Souvenir Tokens that can be used to exchange for Paris 2023 Souvenirs. Meanwhile, 50% of the proceeds will go to the participating players, teams, and organizations of the major championship.