Counter-Strike: Source's Surprise Popularity Has Players Puzzled

Despite the dominance of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and the release of Counter-Strike 2, the classic Counter-Strike: Source shows an inexplicable growth in its online audience. The number of simultaneous players has exceeded 56 thousand people, which came as a surprise to the community.

Analysts have noted a steady increase in the game's popularity since February 2024, when the average daily online increased fourfold compared to previous figures. Part of the community attributes this to the transition of part of the audience with weak PCs that cannot run the demanding CS2. However, Western players put forward a version of possible manipulation - according to their data, dozens of Russian servers filled with bots have appeared on the network, which may indicate the use of the game for dubious purposes.

The phenomenal growth of CS:Source continues to remain a mystery, since the game has not received significant updates or marketing support from Valve. The community is waiting for an official comment from the developers, which could clarify the reasons for the unexpected surge of interest in the 18-year-old shooter.