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Ninjas in Pyjamas eliminate Vici Gaming, move to New Legends Stage Counter-Strike Ninjas in Pyjamas eliminate Vici Gaming, move to New Legends Stage By Steven Rondina Allu leaves Katowice Major to tend to family matters in Finland News Allu leaves Katowice Major to tend to family matters in Finland By Steven Rondina Cloud9 come back from 1-16 start to fend off Furia and advance Counter-Strike Cloud9 come back from 1-16 start to fend off Furia and advance By Steven Rondina
G2 eliminates Fnatic from Katowice major Counter-Strike
G2 eliminates Fnatic from Katowice major Steven Rondina Fnatic’s run in the 2019 Katowice Major has come to an end. Facing G2 Esports in the fourth round of the New Challengers Stage, the Swedish team fizzled en route to a 1-2 loss. That pushed their record to 1-3 in the phase, eliminating them from the event. Things initially looked up for Fnatic. Playing on Mirage, the team opened the series with strong performances from its top stars. After …
ENCE moves to New Legends stage after tight Winstrike series Counter-Strike
ENCE moves to New Legends stage after tight Winstrike series Steven Rondina Though it wasn’t elegant, the Finland’s top Counter-Strike team got the job done in Katowice. In one of the wildest series of the major thus far, ENCE defeated Winstrike Team 2-1. That victory, coupled with ENCE’s wins over G2 Esports and Team Spirit, advances ENCE to the New Legends stage. What this series said about their chances there is up for debate. The first frame, Dust 2, started in ugly …
NBK and Vitality advance while G2 struggles in Katowice Counter-Strike
NBK and Vitality advance while G2 struggles in Katowice Steven Rondina Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt hasn’t played against Richard “shox” Papillon in the 2019 Katowice Major, but he still scored a big win over his former teammate. In round four of the New Challengers Stage, Vitality achieved a 3-1 record to earn a berth in the New Legends Stage. It did so by beating Vici Gaming in a best-of-three series. Vitality looked shaky to start game one on Inferno. Vici Gaming, propelled by …
NRG Esports among first teams to join Legends Stage in Katowice Counter-Strike
NRG Esports among first teams to join Legends Stage in Katowice Steven Rondina NRG Esports is officially legendary in the 2019 Katowice Major. The American organization advanced to 3-0 in the New Challengers Stage with a hard-fought 2-0 victory over Tyloo. That victory earns the team a spot in the New Legends stage and sets them up to face established elites like Astralis and Team Liquid. Though many expected this outcome for the team, success did not come easily. Game one on Inferno …
Fnatic eliminate Grayhound Gaming to survive in Katowice Counter-Strike Fnatic eliminate Grayhound Gaming to survive in Katowice By Steven Rondina eUnited signs three new players, overhaul CS:GO roster Counter-Strike eUnited signs three new players, overhaul CS:GO roster By Olivia Richman Fnatic loses again, one game from Katowice major elimination Counter-Strike Fnatic loses again, one game from Katowice major elimination By Steven Rondina
Veteran PashaBiceps ends lengthy stay at Virtus.pro Counter-Strike
Veteran PashaBiceps ends lengthy stay at Virtus.pro Steven Rondina Virtus.pro’s Counter-Strike division is now a little less swole. During the opening rounds of the Katowice Major 2019, the organization quietly announced the release of fan favorite veteran Jaroslaw “pashaBiceps” Jarzabkowski on its website. The player has been benched from the team’s active roster since December. PashaBiceps has been a rock for VP for years. Joining in 2014 following a split from ESC Gaming, he helped the Polish team become …
Fnatic stunned in opening game at Katowice Major News
Fnatic stunned in opening game at Katowice Major Steven Rondina The 2019 Katowice Major is off to a surprising start. In the opening game of the event, Chinese underdog Vici Gaming stunned Fnatic with a decisive victory on Overpass. The massive upset saw the bottom seed of the Challengers Stage hand a loss to one of the clear favorites. It was obvious early on that Fnatic was not playing to its peak potential. Vici turned a successful pistol round into …
Cloud9, Fnatic, NRG set for opening matches at Katowice major Counter-Strike
Cloud9, Fnatic, NRG set for opening matches at Katowice major Steven Rondina The IEM XIII Katowice Major is almost here and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive fans now know which games they can look forward to. The eight Challengers Stage matches that will kick off the event were revealed by IEM on the event’s official website, alongside the initial seedings for each team. The pairings are the beginning of a Swiss group stage system that will determine which eight teams advance to the Legends …
North take the top spot at GG.BET Ice Challenge Counter-Strike
North take the top spot at GG.BET Ice Challenge Jared Wynne North racked up a big win over two teams soon to challenge for major glory. Danish Counter-Strike team North emerged victorious at the GG.BET Ice Challenge, defeating Natus Vincere in the final by a convincing two maps to zero. Na`Vi didn’t go down without a fight. One of the top ranked teams in the world, Na`Vi was spearheaded by Denis “electronic” Sharipov. The Russian star managed a combined 53 frags …
Valve Anti-Cheat bans over 900,000 accounts in one month Olivia Richman Counter-Strike Newly released statistics may confirm Counter-Strike: Global Offense players’ worst fear since Valve announced the game moving to free-to-play. Valve Anti-Cheat banned over 900,000 accounts in January, the highest number of bans in a single month since the release of Counter-Strike: Global Offense. The anti-cheat software was averaging 25,000 bans per day last month. Using third-party tool SteamDB shows that the collected statistics may shoot up past one million bans …
JW and KRiMZ sign on for three more years at Fnatic Olivia Richman Counter-Strike Two Counter-Strike legends are in it for the long haul with their team. Fnatic revealed new three-year contracts for Jesper “JW” Wecksell and Freddy “KRiMZ” Johansson, who the organization called “esports legends” and “two of the greatest Counter-Strike players of all time.” JW and KRiMZ have been playing together on Fnatic since 2014, except for a short six-month stint with GODSENT. JW joined Fnatic in mid-2013, while KRiMZ was signed …
Smooya banned from FPL after telling fellow player to kill himself William Davis Counter-Strike It looks like we won’t be seeing pro Counter-Strike player Owen “smooya” Butterfield in FPL matches any time soon. The British teen was banned by FaceIt for telling another top player, Ismail “Refrezh” Ali, to “kill himself” following a match on the platform. Smooya suspected that Ali had purposefully thrown the match and was frustrated with the possible situation. His response to it, however, was dramatically over the line.  Smooya …
Fnatic announces partnership with Twitch Olivia Richman News Fnatic has promised new live creative content as part of its exclusive streaming partnership with Twitch. Fans can expect to interact more with all of Fnatic’s teams now, as every pro player in the organization will soon be streaming live shows exclusively through Twitch. “We can’t wait to bring out new ideas and experiment with the platform to create future entertainment experiences,” said Fnatic brand director Benoit Pagotto. Thousands of …
Vitality dominate at WePlay Lock and Load Olivia Richman Counter-Strike Team Vitality has achieved another victory after winning WePlay! Lock and Load. The French team dominated in the grand finals, defeating HellRaisers 2-0. The teams first faced off on Cache, where Vitality closed out the map 16-10 after picking up nine of the first 11 rounds played in the second half. Vitality and HellRaisers then went to Dust2, where Vitality didn’t lose a single round as Counter-Terrorists. The French side …
Mousesports make big changes, part with chrisJ and STYKO Steven Rondina News Mousesports is off to a rocky start in the new year. Two weeks removed from its poor performance at the IEM Katowice European Minor, the organization announced the benching of players Chris “chrisJ” de Jong and Martin “STYKO” Styk, as well as coach Sergey “lmbt” Bezhanov, on its official website. Miikka “suNny” Kemppi, Robin “ropz” Kool, and Tomas “oskar” Stastny remain on the team’s active roster. It’s a wild turn …
Counter-Strike legend NEO hits free agency Olivia Richman Counter-Strike After nearly five years with the Virtus.pro organization, Filip “NEO” Kubski is now a free agent. In spite of more recent struggles, Virtus.pro remains one of the most storied names in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The team achieved a major victory at 2014’s EMS Katowice and spent much of the following two years at the top of the burgeoning CS:GO pro scene. But a runner-up finish at ELEAGUE Major: Atlanta in …
DickStacy NSFW sticker turned down by Valve Olivia Richman Counter-Strike Fans of Counter-Strike and phallic objects have been dealt a severe blow. Oliver “DickStacy” Tierney’s phallic sticker submission was immediately rejected by Valve and will not be available for in-game use, despite the wishes of swelling fans. The Grayhound Gaming in-game leader recently qualified for the IEM Katowice 2018 Major, which brings with it the coveted reward of designing your own personal in-game Counter-Strike sticker. DickStacy made no effort to …
Two new maps enter CS:GO competitive rotation Steven Rondina Counter-Strike Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s map pool has gotten a bit more lively. A pair of new defusal maps, Zoo and Abbey, have been added to the competitive rotation. They replace Subzero and Austria, which were removed on the January 24 update following runs of one and two years, respectively. Zoo is a familiar sight for longtime Counter-Strike players. An updated version of the former Operation Bloodhound map, it stands apart from …
Smooya parts ways with BIG, nex steps in gabhernandez Counter-Strike One of Counter-Strike’s biggest trash talkers is parting ways with his team. German esports organisation BIG has announced today that British sensation and up-and-coming CS:GO player Owen “smooya” Butterfield has stepped down from the main roster. The news comes as quite a shock, as smooya’s growth and impact have been substantial and a key part of the team’s successes during the last year. Smooya joined BIG in April 2018 from …
Liquid do the impossible, defeat Astralis in tournament final Steven Rondina Counter-Strike Team Liquid finally scored a finals win over archrival Astralis. The American squad took the top prize at the iBUYPOWER Masters IV event, raking in a cool $100,000 and exacting a much-needed bit of revenge on the Danes after coming up short throughout 2018. It was a strong ending to what was an excellent showing by the team. Liquid’s tournament kicked off with a strong group stage that saw it …
ESL to overhaul CS:GO Pro League structure William Davis Counter-Strike There’s a brand new format coming to the next season of play in the ESL Pro League. ESL’s CS:GO Pro League is changing its format in 2019. Starting on April 12, the best teams from Europe, America, and the Asia-Pacific region will be competing in one of the world’s biggest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive leagues. The group stage will begin with 16 teams divided evenly into four groups of four teams …

Counter-Strike has long been among the biggest titles in esports and competitive gaming, even going back to esports’ deepest roots from decades past. What’s more, the game continues going strong today, with developer and publisher Valve releasing the latest iteration of the franchise in 2023. The newest version, Counter-Strike 2, has not been without its issues. But its popularity continues the enduring prominence of the Counter-Strike series, signaling that the venerated franchise is likely here to stay for many years yet to come.

But how did the franchise come be to so prominent in the esports space, and role does CS2 have to play in the industry moving forward?

Counter-Strike has roots in the beginnings of esports

Counter-Strike was unquestionably one of the biggest drivers of what we would today consider to be early professional esports movement. It was far from alone, and it wasn’t the most advanced. That likely was StarCraft: Brood War, a real-time strategy game from famed developer Blizzard that caught on in South Korea and led to a professional scene in the country well ahead of any examples of esports industry elsewhere in the world.

But outside of Korea, Counter-Strike quickly became the driving force behind competitive gaming and esports. First released in 1999 as a modification for popular first-person shooter Half-Life, the game was easy to pick up and play for many gamers. Half-Life was borderline ubiquitous software for gamers with a PC, and adding a mod to it was as simple as downloading and applying said mod. So it was that Counter-Strike began to catch fire and spread across the world.

As it spread, so too did its competitive play. Early competitions often centered around online play, most prominently including the Cyberathlete Amateur League (CAL) in North America and the Clanbase Eurocup in Europe. But live, in-person tournaments, similar to those enjoyed by StarCraft players and fans in Korea, were also rising in prominence.

Within just a few years, there were a number of major annual tournaments being held for the original version of Counter-Strike. Notable international tournament organizers included the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) in the United States, the Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC) in France, and the World Cyber Games (WCG) in Korea. This was in addition to many other regional tournaments through which teams could test their mettle and battle over smaller prizes.

But even at bigger tournaments, prizes weren’t what they are today, and in general there was far less money available to professional Counter-Strike players than there is in today’s thriving esports industry which sees many players and teams playing at the full-time pro level. That’s a far cry from a time when perhaps a small handful of players were able to make a true living through playing CS alone, and even them, it was often a modest one.

Counter-Strike 2 at the fore of a bigger esports scene than ever before

Counter-Strike 2 was released to a far different esports space than that which the original Counter-Strike occupied. But what exactly is it that has changed the scene so much, besides the accrual of years?

Esports betting is at the top of the list. The sports betting industry is growing and expanding around the world each and every year, and esports has absolutely been a part of that. As esports betting continues to grow and thrive, it brings its benefits to the games that are being bet on. And Counter-Strike 2 is at the top of that list.

These benefits have arrived through a myriad of means. Fan interest in tournaments has gone up and become more consistent with betting markets available for each and every game played, which further incentivizes tournament organizers and their sponsoring partners. But those partners are also now more likely to work with the pro teams and players themselves. Betting operators are among the most common and most generous sponsors in the pro CS2 space, showing how esports betting’s rise has contributed to Counter-Strike’s continued prominence in esports and competitive gaming as a whole.