Counter-Strike: SourceandGarry’s Modare both synonymous with the mid-2000s era of PC gaming. CS:S is a source-based remake of the iconic shooter Counter-Strike, which has since gone on to become a global phenomenon, garnering millions of daily players, and GMod gave usSkibidi Toilet.
WhileCounter-Strike 2is one of the most popular games in the world now, it seems that time moves in a flat circle, with 2006’s Garry’s Mod appearing to cause 2004’s Counter-Strike: Source to reach its highest player count since as far back as April 2012.
Players Have Flocked Back To Counter-Strike: Source Following GMod Integration
Over the last few weeks, Counter-Strike: Source (and Half-Life 2) content has been added into Garry’s Mod. This means that players “no longer need to own those games and have them installed to play on community maps that expect you to have this content,” allowing them to jump into custom maps without facing bright pink and dark black stand-in textures if they don’t own CS:S,
Thanks to “gracious permission from Valve,” this new update hasseeminglycaused a massive surge in players returning to the 2004 tactical FPS.
Over the weekend, according to data fromSteamDB, Counter-Strike: Source reached a staggering concurrent player count of 56,987, the highest it has been since 61,373 players played together in April 2012, almost 13 and a half years ago. That’s more players than games likeHelldivers 2andReady or Notreached onSteamover the weekend, and more than double that ofOverwatch 2andthe struggling Mecha Break.
While, of course, players don’t need CS:S installed now to access the GMod content, there is the very real possibility that this content update has caused a snowball effect, making players return to the 21-year-old title.
There is, however, a possibility that this isn’t the Cinderella story that we all hoped for. Although there are some suggestions and reasons to believe that CS: Source is undergoing a genuine resurgence,online reportsindicate there has been an increase in “bottled servers that are advertising some Russian website.”
I’m choosing to ignore this, though, and I’m here to declare that the golden era of gaming is back (even if it’s not).
