Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Tournament In Poland Sets New Online Viewership Record Due To COVID-19 Quarantine

The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2020 tournament finals in Katowice, Poland set a new record for online viewers for a non-major Counter-Strike event last weekend. The unexpected rise in online viewership was probably due to a last-minute quarantine imposed by the Polish health department because of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus threat.

According to Polygon, analysts from the Esports Charts reported a peak viewership of 1,002,132 during the Grand Finals match between Natus Vincere (NaVi) and G2 Esports. The match even surpassed the online viewership numbers of 2017’s Krakow Major and last year’s Berlin Major. NaVi managed to bag the top spot with a 3-0 sweep amid the empty seats of Katowice’s Spodek Arena.

The Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2020 is the latest event to be affected by the coronavirus scare. Major video game companies were forced to back out of PAX East in Boston last weekend as a precaution against the rapidly spreading virus. The Game Developers Conference 2020 in San Francisco has also been postponed until this summer while CCP Games was forced to cancel this year’s EVE Fanfest in Reykjavik, Iceland.