The COVID-19 pandemic has been wreaking havoc globally for over four months now. The highly infectious virus has forced governments across the world into implementing lockdowns for indefinite durations. While the economy of many countries have come to a halt, gamers are appearing to have the time of their lives as they now have more free time than ever to enjoy their favorite titles.
In this highly ambitious world, people are generally always busy while being engrossed in official work. While COVID-19 has undeniably brought many harms to mankind, it might just have come as a blessing in disguise for a good number of people. The pandemic has metaphorically rebooted our lives to the point when we had all the free time in the world, and while people can’t go outside for a quick game of soccer anymore, they can certainly boot up their computers to indulge in the video-game they hadn’t got the chance to play for so long.
Counter-Strike 1.6 is a title almost every gamer is familiar with. It’s a title that has not only defined the childhood of every nineties’ kid, but also an entire age of competitive gaming. Its successor – Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is still standing strong as one of the leading titles in esports today.
The lockdown seemed to have enabled people to reminisce their childhood by giving them a chance to enjoy the classic multiplayer shooter once again. The steam chart page for CS 1.6 shows an increase in players in the past month by over 40 percent. Comparing the current number with the number from February, the playerbase of the game seems to almost have doubled. The average number of players playing the game in April 2020 was 17,765 while that in March was only 12,509.
The rapid increase in the player count of the game wasn’t particularly surprising either. The shooter is still loved by millions of fans worldwide and can run in the most primitive of computers, bringing more and more casual gamers to play it who haven’t gotten the opportunity to invest in a gaming rig themselves. The community of the game is also really clean, everyone plays for fun without insulting others who mess up – a problem that most modern day competitive titles have. The absence of toxicity provides gamers with a peaceful environment to refine their skills and have some fun on the way.
While CS 1.6 was originally released back in 1999, it’s still boasting a player count more than many other modern games. COVID-19 has further pointed the fact out that this game isn’t meant to fade away anytime soon.
