Counter-Strike 2 and VALORANT have often been compared for their similar gameplay and focus on mechanical prowess — leading to a lot of debates in the esports community. But the two games couldn’t be more different.
Valve’s serious decades-old shooter paved the way for FPS esports. Riot’s colourful shooter added agent abilities to the mix, and now CS2 and VALORANT are often seen as the dominant esports in the space. But is one more dominant than the other?
CS2 vs. VALORANT: Gameplay
Valve Corporation’s Counter-Strike is built on the concept of two teams of six strategically traversing a map to get the upper hand on the enemy. Terrorists are the offensive team, hoping to plant a bomb on one of the map’s designated sites while Counter-Terrorists are hoping to disarm it — or take down the enemy first.
What makes Counter-Strike stand out is its gunplay. The players on the opposing sites can kill each other, and buy weapons each round to do it. The more a team wins, the better economy it has, and the more advanced and expensive guns they can buy. Some weapons require the player to hold certain angles and parts of the map, while others are used in specific situations.
The mechanical skill needed to play the game at the highest levels is unprecedented, which is likely one of the reasons for the game’s popularity as an esports: it is easy to understand, but difficult to master making it entertaining to watch for newcomers and ingrained fans alike.
VALORANT arrived much later, adding its twist — agents, all with unique abilities. While the gameplay is largely the same (fight for control of the map with strategic movements and paths), having to implement and coordinate agent abilities has added another layer entirely. Now, players not only have to focus on accurate gunplay but also to control the map with walls, turrets, and spy abilities as well as avoiding incoming abilities that deal massive damage.
CS2 vs. VALORANT: Which Esports Is Bigger in 2025?
The year has just begun, but Esports Charts has shared some insight into the most-viewed esports so far (based on tournaments that have been held these last few months). Both CS2 and VALORANT are in the top five, but which one is in the lead?
Right now, VALORANT is in the lead — but barely. Its tournaments saw over 1.32 million views combined while CS2 is not far behind with about 1.3 million views. It’s still early, however, so expect this to change.
VALORANT’s largest tournament in 2025 so far was Masters Bangkok, an S-tier tournament kicking off the VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 in a big way. The most-viewed match was the Grand Final match, which saw T1 beating G2.
CS2’s largest tournament of 2025 is the ongoing ESL Pro League Season 21. This has a peak viewership of 452K so far. As of March, however, CS2 hasn’t had a tournament as large as VALORANT yet — which could mean the tables could turn later this year.
Last year, Counter-Strike had 1.85 million views at its largest esports event, PGL Major Copenhagen. This was followed by Perfect World Shanghai Major at 1.33 million and IEM Cologne with almost 1.1 million.
VALORANT’s largest event was VCT Masters Madrid at 1.69 million views. The next largest was Champions at 1.4 million and then Masters Shanghai with 914K.
If we go by 2024’s data, Counter-Strike 2 is the most-watched esports of the two FPS titles. But either could take the lead in 2025. We’ll have to wait and see how the fans tune in for upcoming big tournaments in the next few months.
CS2 and VALORANT Bet Offers
Counter-Strike 2 and VALORANT are also two of the most popular games with esports bettors due to their intense and straightforward gameplay. Due to their similar gameplay, many of the most popular pre-match bet offers are available to both.
The most popular bet to place is of course on the winner of the match, which is usually decided as the winner of a Bo3 or Bo5. Other dynamic, more long-tail bet offers for FPS titles include first kill, players with the most kills, players getting over or under a certain amount of kills or deaths, the first to plant a bomb or spike, and other dynamic in-game moments.
Player props have seen a significant uplift recently, with 17% of Shanghai Major being of this popular type. As such, sportsbooks should look to add strong player prop markets such as “Player to get Under/Over Kills” and “Player to get Over/Under Headshots”, creating a more dynamic betting experience.
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