Counter-Strike 2 Is Steam’s Most Profitable Game Of 2024 So Far

While giving Valve’s premier first-person shooter some competition, it bears noticing that Helldivers 2 has been largely successful on Steam this year, raking in more than $450 million in total revenue just in the half of 2024 alone. The top-ranking title, however, is Counter-Strike 2, whose numbers are way, way up, becoming the platform’s most profitable game so far. 

The following listing has been compiled by GameDiscoverCo, a gaming-focused data analyst site that publishes weekly newsletters.   

Considering that Counter-Strike 2 is Valve’s very own game, which also happens to own Steam, one can assume that the profits aren’t divided, and there’s no question of any royalties being shared. Valve wouldn’t be paying itself now in that regard, would it? Suffice to say, therefore, that CS2 has been significantly profitable over the course of the last 6 months or so. 

Now whether this is due to the gigantic availability of skins and other cosmetics that would make a player further indulge in CS2 trade-ups, thereby finding themselves in a cycle, I’m not really sure. But as long as the money keeps pouring in. 

On a side note, my colleague Shahmeer wrote an in-depth piece on CS2 skins that you should check out to understand the “rich history, economic, and ethical impacts that CS skins have had on the game.” 

With Global Offensive No More, CS2 Is The Future Of The Franchise

The onset of Counter-Strike 2 automatically made Counter-Strike: Global Offensive go defunct, with Valve delisting the game in favor of its big, bad upgrade. As of right now, there’s no telling whether there’s going to be a Counter-Strike 3 or anything along those lines.

On a side note, though, CS2 seems to be helping out in other technological spaces. The second Neuralink chip, an implant that can stimulate brain activity, has just been utilized by a patient to play CS2. Pretty wild if you ask me.