The StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 has left a mark on the history of Counter-Strike 2, peaking with an astonishing 1,543,810 peak concurrent viewers in the final match of Team Vitality and FaZe Clan, making this event the fifth most-watched esports competition in the history of CS2.
Team Vitality put on a dominating show and won their third Major title with a 3-1 victory over FaZe Clan in a best-of-five match in a Major final for the first time in history, which took place in a $1.25 million prize-pool competition at the MVM Dome in Budapest before a crowd of 20,000 spectators, and Budapest is now definitely on the Counter-Strike map.
The viewing numbers speak for themselves in terms of the interest in esports across the globe. The record-breaking event took place during the decisive map in the series, with numbers higher than the second most-viewed match in 2025, the BLAST.tv Austin Major finals, which 1,789,038 people viewed.
Not only is this a testament to the incredible Easter egg event put on by StarLadder, but it also highlights their ‘resurrection’ in the Counter-Strike esports scene after a rather lengthy break. This event is considered their most successful to date, including non-CS2 esports events.
The presence of such performances in the playoffs shows how attractive this competition is. The match between NAVI and FURIA in the quarter finals had almost 1.49 million concurrent viewers, and on the first day of the competition, Kick streaming platform achieved its all-time esports peak with a total of 141,027 views. The record-breaking performances in this competition show a growing interest in this event among people from all over the world.
Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut took home the title of MVP of this tournament, securing his third Major victory in total. Such a victory in Budapest Major demonstrates a revival in StarLadder’s fortunes as a major esports organization and confirms Counter-Strike’s strength as a developing esports platform with the power to attract millions at once.