Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
CSGO star Stewie2K says he will “eventually” switch to Valorant
William Davis
Team Liquid’s star entry fragger has plans to enter Valorant, but he’s in no hurry. Jacky “Stewie2K” Yip revealed on his stream that he does eventually plan to transfer to Valorant, but he claims that the switch will not happen anytime soon. For now, Stewie2K will continue to rifle for Team Liquid’s CSGO roster. In a stream on August 15, Stewie2k discussed the idea of a Valorant watch party with …
Counter-Strike
ESL Pro League Season 14 group stage betting preview
William Davis
The newest season of ESL Pro League will be the last big Counter-Strike: Global Offensive betting opportunity before the Stockholm Major in October. The Electronic Sports League attracted the best CSGO teams with the promise of $750,000 in an online tournament. ESL Pro League Season 14 will be the final top-level proving round before the $2,000,000 major in Stockholm. The first stage of ESL Pro League is a group stage …
Counter-Strike
Game-breaking CSGO “god mode” bug makes players invincible
Fariha Bhatti
A Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player has encountered a weird bug that effectively triggers god mode. CSGO’s enduring esports scene is a testament to how deep the gameplay is and how stable it has been over the years. The game has its fair share of glitches and bugs that make it a nuisance to play, but these have generally been minor. A big one does sometimes slip through the cracks though, …
Counter-Strike
CSGO hacker facing 6 years in prison over alleged DDoS attack
William Davis
Ruining a game usually lands you a 30-minute matchmaking ban, but one griefer is staring at six years in prison. Swedish police have arrested a citizen accused of cyberattacks on Counter-Strike: Global Offensive matchmaking service Esportal. The suspect is believed to have launched thousands of direct denial of service attacks on the website, specifically targeting certain streamers. This arrest comes as cybercrimes come more and more under the spotlight due …
Counter-Strike
MSL launches new Danish CSGO roster with aizy and JUGi
William Davis
After weeks of anticipation, Mathias “MSL” Lauridsen’s new Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster has finally been revealed. The squad is primarily composed of very experienced players. Rifler Frederik “Fessor” Sørensen is still on the rise. The new CSGO team will be commanded by MSL himself, who previously called shots for North and OpTic Gaming. The squad is currently looking for a sponsor before attempting to qualify for major tournaments. MSL’s new …
Counter-Strike
Betting favorites and dark horses for ESL Pro League Season 14
William Davis
ESL Pro League Season 14 will be the biggest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament between now and the $2 million PGL Major Stockholm in October. The 24 teams in attendance include most of the best CSGO squads in the world. With so many matches to play, the sequential group stage will take nearly three weeks to complete. That means plenty of opportunities to pad out your betting purse for the Stockholm …
Counter-Strike
shroud says that Counter-Strike players are the “best gamers”
Fariha Bhatti
It’s no secret that Michael “shroud” Grzesiek has a love-hate relationship with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, but he’s a firm believer that CSGO players are some of the “best gamers” of all time. shroud was a decorated CSGO pro during his peak playing days. Unlike other retired players, shroud only became more popular as one of the most influential Twitch streamers after stepping away from the competition. Despite his dynamic resume, …
Counter-Strike
CSGO player count falls for 6th straight month, here’s why
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive suffered an enormous loss of players in June and things haven’t improved much in the days since. CSGO’s average player count declined almost 8% in July, another tough loss after what was a disastrous June for the tactical shooter. The game averaged 506,067.4 players in July with a peak of just 763,523, according to Steam Charts. This marks six straight months of declining player counts for CSGO, extending …
cajunb returns to lead new AGF Esport Danish CSGO squad
William Davis
Counter-Strike
AGF Esport has revealed a very strong lineup of Danish players for its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive squad. After trialing René “cajunb” Borg, the Danish star has officially been instated as AGF’s new captain. The reformed squad will also include Magnus “Nodios” Olsen of Copenhagen Flames and Kristoffer “kristou” Aamand from North. Most notably, cajunB has officially returned from his 2021 break to headline AGF Esport’s new roster. The Danish rifler …
This newly discovered smoke can stop any A-long rush on Dust 2
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Struggling to gain long control on Dust 2? Try this quick smoke that will halt enemy advances. Getting long control on Dust 2 can be an arduous task, as terrorists can sometimes reach the doors first, making defence impossible. While counter-terrorists have a split-second edge when it comes to getting to the long doors, it’s better to have an airtight plan. A newly discovered long smoke is your best bet …
The best CSGO training maps on the Steam Workshop in 2022
William Davis
News
You can train to become the best Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player you can be with the help of the Steam Workshop and its many custom maps. CSGO has an active group of map designers publishing their work on the Steam Workshop. Many of these maps are designed to help CSGO players improve their abilities and configure their most optimal settings. If you want to improve at CSGO quickly and for …
CSGO players worldwide are racing to kill 100 bots in record time
William Davis
Counter-Strike
The fastest guns in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive can take down 100 bots in less than 30 seconds. Can you? The CSGO community is revisiting the aim_botz 100 kill challenge with the goal of setting a new world record. The goal is to score 100 kills on bots as quickly as possible. The aim_botz challenge record has been broken multiple times in the past week alone. This CSGO bot-killing challenge uses …
shroud returns to CSGO, quits again after just one round
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
Michael “shroud” Grzesiek returned to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive just to immediately decide he’s once again done with the classic FPS. The former CSGO pro was playing on Dust 2 with former roommate and fellow former CSGO pro Justin “just9n” Ortiz, when he died almost immediately. That left shroud to watch his teammates play against the final remaining Counter-Terrorist. Since it was two-on-one situation, it was looking like shroud’s remaining teammates …
What is the most CT-sided CSGO map of 2021?
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
If you’re bad at playing defense, you may want to train on specific maps a bit more. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive maps aren’t perfectly balanced. A location may favor one side more than another due to factors like structure, design, and size. While it may not impact Terrorists much due to economic advantage, Counter-Terrorists may endure the consequences. Instead of honing your aim, learn the maps that require game sense and …
CSGO maps ported to Blender show how good the game could look
William Davis
Counter-Strike
The Source engine is great for customization and modding but its graphics processing can certainly be improved upon. A social media user has been porting beloved Counter-Strike: Global Offensive maps into Blender. The lighting, shadows, and texture quality is far beyond anything the Source engine is capable of. The project shows off how insanely detailed CSGO could be if it ran on a modern video game engine. Dust_2, Mirage, and …
Can Astralis’ new AWPer Lucky put the Danes back on top?
William Davis
Counter-Strike
Fourth place at IEM Cologne would be a standout success for almost any Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team. But Astralis is not just any CSGO team. Astralis has stood at the top of CSGO time and time again but the loss of Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz has left the Danish juggernaut scrambling for a replacement. The squad might have found one in new young AWPer Philip “Lucky” Ewald. Can the young sniper …
Is there really a crouch-walking accuracy bug in CSGO?
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players are highlighting a potential long-standing bug that messes up your shot accuracy while crouch-walking. In an advanced first-person shooter game like CSGO, accuracy is crucial. You want your bullets to hit the intended target consistently. Irregular patterns and bullet landings point to the game being bugged, and players may have found such an instance in the game’s crouch-walking mechanics. In a crouching position, players should be …
This new Overpass heaven smoke is safer than most lineups
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
This new Overpass heaven smoke is safer than the one you use. Smoking heaven on Overpass’ B site doesn’t have to be a life-threatening task. There’s an easier way to block off the high angle over the site that AWPers have exploited on the map. The trouble is that most of the known lineups for smokes to block off heaven have put players into dangerous positions. Dying while lining up a …
Fnatic signs former Cloud9 duo ALEX and mezii to CSGO roster
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Former Cloud9 duo Alex “ALEX” McMeekin and William “mezii” Merriman have marked their return to top-tier Counter-Strike: Global Offensive by joining Fnatic. The Swedish team’s director and head coach, Andreas “Samuelsson” Samuelsson, earlier expressed a wish to go International and it seems that the organization has made the big move by signing the British duo. The start of something new.Welcome, @kingmezii & @CSGOALEX to the Black and Orange. pic.twitter.com/SYpU8YNAGV — …
The Scope.gg map performance tool is a new way to improve in CSGO
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Be honest with yourself: Are you actually good at sniping from heaven on Mirage? How good are you at holding down long doors on Dust 2? Are you more successful pushing towards the A site or B site on Ancient? Players have to make some tricky choices when it comes to how and where they play on maps in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and without precise statistics, it’s tough to know …
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.
