Chinese content creator MoMo侠, who has almost one million followers on local TikTok, explained why, in his opinion, CS2 is losing popularity in China. The main complaint is not about the esports scene, but about the state of the game itself for ordinary users.
CS2 in China has a problem not only with esports
According to MoMo侠, one of the key reasons for the decline in interest is that CS2 increasingly looks like a game focused primarily on the professional scene. He believes that ordinary players lack entertainment content inside the game itself: modes, events, activities, and reasons to return not only for ranking or watching tournaments.
This is an important point, because the Chinese market is often very sensitive specifically to regular in-game content. If a player logs into the game after work simply to relax, they need a quick feeling of novelty and satisfaction, not only a sports discipline with a high entry barrier.
Criticism of Valve’s approach to changes
MoMo侠 separately mentioned changes such as store updates. In his opinion, such decisions look like the classic approach of “play the way we think is right,” when developers change familiar mechanics even if a significant part of the audience did not ask for it.
He explains this problem through the simple logic of a casual player: after a hard day, people want to log into CS, relax, and shoot, not get used to yet another system again. That is why even changes that are not the biggest can cause irritation if they affect the basic feeling of the game.
The skins market has become less stable
Another important complaint concerns the skins economy. MoMo侠 believes that knife crafting, terminals, and souvenir contracts have shaken the familiar market. For part of the audience, skins have stopped looking like a relatively understandable purchase and have started to be perceived as a more unstable and risky asset.
This is especially painful for CS2, because cosmetics have always been one of the main elements of player engagement. If the casual audience starts to be afraid of spending money because of price instability or unclear economy updates, the game loses not only part of its revenue, but also part of its daily interest.
Perfect World also received criticism
MoMo侠 also criticized the work of Perfect World, which is responsible for the Chinese version of CS2. According to him, the company is not actively enough promoting the game in China and is too slow to respond to the cheater problem, which directly hurts the trust of ordinary players.
For comparison, he mentioned Tencent and Delta Force, where the fight against cheats, in his assessment, looks much more aggressive. This is not only about banning accounts, but also about tougher measures such as device bans and lawsuits, which are meant to show players that the publisher is really controlling the situation.
Why this is a painful topic specifically for CS2
The problem of CS2 in China, if viewed through MoMo侠’s assessment, does not come down to one bad decision. It is a combination of several factors: a lack of casual content, controversial gameplay changes, distrust of the skins market, and an insufficiently strict fight against cheaters.
This exact combination may be more dangerous than a temporary drop in online numbers. When a player simultaneously does not see new entertainment, does not trust the game’s economy, and feels problems with match integrity, bringing them back becomes much more difficult.
A signal for the developers and the Chinese partner
MoMo侠’s words are important not because they give a final answer about the state of CS2 in China, but because they clearly show the mood of part of the local audience. This is not criticism from a random user, but the position of a major content creator who works directly with the Chinese community and sees players’ reactions.
The main conclusion is simple: to maintain CS2’s popularity, a strong esports scene alone is not enough. The game needs to work better with the everyday experience of ordinary users, the stability of the internal economy, and trust in the anti-cheat system; otherwise, even a large historical fanbase will gradually begin to lose interest.
