Counter-Strike: Global Offensive takes out another esports viewership record

Activision’s newly acquired Major League Gaming division is pulling in huge audiences even when it broadcasts games that don’t belong to the giant publisher.

MLG held a tournament for the military shooter Counter-Strike: Global Offensive earlier this month, and it attracted 71 million live and on-demand views. The competition also set a new record for simultaneous viewers during a Counter-Strike esports event at 1.6 million. That surpasses the 1.3 million for ESL’s CS:GO major in August, and it continues the enormous growth for an esports game that isn’t Dota 2 or League of Legends. With this level of fan engagement and growth beyond the multiplayer online arena battler genre, pro gaming is easily on pace to reach $465 million in revenue by 2017.