The European RMRs for Counter-Strike 2’s first Major have wrapped and the numbers are in: Last week’s RMRs broke records for concurrent viewership and total watch hours, smashing the previous level set by the BLAST Paris Major last April.
Concurrent viewership for the PGL Copenhagen Major RMRs peaked at 480,590 viewers—over 300,000 more than its BLAST Paris predecessor—according to stats site Esports Charts. It’s an impressive count given tier one event playoff matches manage around the same viewership: IEM Katowice’s quarter- and semi-finals recorded around half a million viewers.
Watch hours are also through the roof this RMR cycle, with approx. 17.6 million hours recorded—about 30 percent higher than BLAST Paris. There was very little difference in total hours streamed between the two and across both RMR A and B as well as last-chance decider won by 9Pandas earlier today. Following broken records for the RMR qualfiiers themselves in January, all signs point to a new Counter-Strike viewership record when the pinnacle event lands in Denmark in mid March.
Team Spirit was the most popular team as many tuned in to see donk and the Katowice champions back up their performance and qualify for the main event. Three of the top five matches by popularity included Team Spirit, while the last chance qualifier between 9Pandas and GamerLegion managed a solid 266,000 viewers.
Hype for CS2’s first Major aside, the numbers speak to the importance of the RMR as a whole. Analyst Alex “Mauisnake” Ellenberg summed up the general thoughts of many on X/Twitter during the RMR last week, stating the money earned by the Major attendees is life-changing and raises the stakes to new heights. “Emotions run higher than even the Major and there is only heartbreak or elation on the other side,” Mauisnake said.
Its similar to fellow Valve title Dota 2 and its pinnacle tournament, The International. Prior to 2023, TI made up well over half the prizepool for the annual circuit whereby just qualifying for the event guaranteed a player could live off the esport. While CS2’s Major prize pool remains set at a modest $1.25 million compared to TIs long-past, the revenue generated via sticker capsules more than makes up the difference.
The RMRs are far from over: Asia-Pacific determines its two delegates for the Danish Major this coming week before America’s best go head-to-head next week. Eyes will be on the American RMR in particular with the likes of Brazilian hopefuls FURIA and a newly-formed Team Liquid vying to make it to CS2’s first ever Major—a tournament no-one wants to miss.
