Activision Blizzard has revealed record breaking viewership figures for this year’s Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO) Major Championship, and thousands of World of Warcraft players flock to Azeroth to pay homage to the archaic Nostalrius server before shutdown.

Activision Blizzard Media Networks, a subsidiary of the interactive gaming and entertainment outfit Activision Blizzard, has announced that the Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO) Major Championship, held in spring and produced by Major League Gaming  (MLG), smashed viewership records.

The Nationwide Arena in Columbus was packed to the rafters as the final three days of competition attracted sell out crowds of 10,000 people every single day. In addition to live attendances, event organisers pumped out 45 million hours of live broadcasts, racking up 71 million video views, and a record 1.6 million concurrent viewers across all over the top content, web, Mobile and live streaming. The previous CS: GO record was 34 million hours of footage, and 1.3 million concurrent viewers set last year at the CS: GO major tournament in Cologne, Germany.

Mike Sepso, Senior Vice President of Activision Blizzard Media was delighted with the figures stating they were a clear indication that their product was ‘resonating with players and fans around the world.’ Last year, more than 225 million people watched some form of competitive eSports action in one form of broadcast or another and the trend is spiralling upwards faster than a beanstalk belonging to a guy named Jack.