**Counter-Strike 2 Majors continue to post substantially higher peaks than VALORANT’s top international events, underpinning the 96.5% trader consensus against a 2026 crossover.** The IEM Cologne Major 2026 established new CS records with a 2.75 million peak concurrent viewers and over 100 million hours watched, driven by extended best-of-three formats, star international lineups, and broad regional fanbases. In comparison, VALORANT’s strongest 2026 results, such as Masters London at roughly 1.07 million peak, remain well below that threshold, consistent with year-to-date patterns where CS2 S-tier events lead in peak, average, and total hours watched despite fewer broadcast hours. Historical Champions and Masters peaks have also topped out lower than recent CS Majors. A realistic shift would require an unprecedented VALORANT Champions performance in Shanghai exceeding the Cologne benchmark on Esports Charts methodology, an outcome that current audience trends and structural differences make unlikely.