Counter-Strike’s 25th Anniversary: A Live-Streaming Review

On the 19^th of June 1999, the first official beta for Counter-Strike was released. Just this last week, the community celebrated the game’s 25^th anniversary… and yet, one would be forgiven for not having heard more about the milestone. That’s because the game’s developer and publisher, Valve, frequently considers the game’s birthday to be on the 9 of November each year: The day that 1.0 launched under Valve’s banner. This feels like a massive missed opportunity, given how community events can drive massive amounts of traffic both to the game itself and to live-streaming platforms (as seen with recent anniversary celebrations for and ).As our own small way of rectifying this mistake, Stream Hatchet is looking back over the history of which, for our purposes here, involves and viewership combined. We’re looking at the most popular events of all time, and the streamers who are currently pulling in the bulk of the game’s viewership.