Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
CSGO Stockholm Major may be canceled after TI10 forced out
William Davis
Valve has announced that the $40 million Dota 2 tournament The International 2021 is likely being forced out of Sweden. What does that mean for Counter-Strike’s $2,000,000 PGL Major, which was set to take place in Stockholm a few months later? The Swedish Sports Federation’s most recent ruling seemingly rejected the notion that esports qualifies as a sport, something that prevents Dota 2 and Counter-Strike pros from claiming elite athlete …
Counter-Strike
olofmeister and Dosia profile picture swap confuses fans
William Davis
A silly profile picture change from Olof “olofmeister” Gustafsson has led to some equally silly search engine nonsense. Early on June 21, FaZe Clan rifler olofmeister swapped his profile picture with an edited image of semi-retired Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player Mikhail “Dosia” Stolyarov in an Astralis jersey. The change appears to be a simple joke with no deeper meaning behind it. #NewProfilePic pic.twitter.com/vqGFtbKL9V — olofmeister (@olofmeister) June 21, 2021 Dosia …
Counter-Strike
Woxic returns to pro play, announces his five man squad
Fariha Bhatti
Legendary Counter-Strike: Global Offensive AWPer Özgür “woxic” Eker has finally returned from competitive inactivity after six months. The Turkish CSGO pro took to Twitter to announce his comeback after going under the radar for months. Woxic further revealed that he has prepared a squad of five, all set to compete in future tournaments. His team is currently on a lookout for an organization to back the project. Hello Twitter, i …
Counter-Strike
Top teams to compete in Gamers Without Borders charity event
Olivia Richman
A $1.5 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is coming on June 22. Gamers Without Borders is a virtual festival that features a newly unveiled CSGO tournament with a $1.5 million prize pool. The hefty sum will be donated to charitable organizations focused on distributing medical aid to underdeveloped countries and at-risk communities. With such an important cause on the line, the competition is about to be fierce. Some of the best …
Counter-Strike
CSGO cheaters are moving to FACEIT after new Prime account rules
Steven Rondina
A power shift may have taken place in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, but it’s not the kind that players are used to. FACEIT players are reporting on social media a significant uptick in the frequency of encountering cheaters. The discussion comes after a significant change to standard matchmaking that was designed to combat hackers in CSGO’s default matchmaking service for Prim account holders. Earlier this month, Valve introduced a major change …
Counter-Strike
allu steps down from ENCE, major finals roster is gone
Fariha Bhatti
ENCE’s oldest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player, Aleksi “allu” Jalli, has officially parted ways with the organization. The Finnish quintet that once took ENCE to a major final finally comes to end with allu’s imminent departure. ENCE will now fields a roster of mixed players after sporting a fully Finnish squad for over three years. allu had announced a brief break from competitive CSGO earlier in May, but fans were hopeful …
Counter-Strike
How to get better at CSGO? Leetify may be the answer
William Davis
“How can I get better at Counter-Strike: Global Offensive?” That’s a common question among CSGO players, and it’s one that will have a wide variety of answers depending on who you ask. YouTube videos will show you grenade lineups and how to manage CSGO’s spray patterns. Articles will tell you to watch your crosshair placement and to jiggle peak instead of standing in place. But what if there was a …
Counter-Strike
Caster Sadokist teases return to calling CSGO events
Steven Rondina
One of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s most recognizable voices may be set to return to the game after an extended break. Matthew “Sadokist” Trivett took to Twitter with a hint that he might be set to return to casting. If true, this would mark his first time taking up the microphone since February 2020 when he worked the 2020 ICE Challenge as a commentator. C you Soon:GamersOf the world! — Sadokist …
Olofmeister won’t retire, returns to FaZe Clan roster again
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
FaZe Clan will be bringing Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer back to the starting roster to stabilize the beleagured Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team. FaZe Clan’s olofmeister has been off the radar for a while now, but this will change soon. The organization has confirmed that olofmeister will complete its roster to partake in Blast Premier Spring. He’s back.Introducing our CS:GO starting lineup for the @BLASTPremier Spring Final:@FaZe_rainCS @Twistzz @brokycs @karriganCSGO & @olofmeister …
BLAST Premier Fall Finals to be held with a live audience
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
BLAST has announced its first Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event in a live arena setting with fans in nearly 20 months. The tournament organizer has confirmed that the BLAST Fall Finals will take place in Copenhagen’s Royal Arena in November with a live audience in attendance. The initial stages in the first three days will take place off the stage, with the last three days set to take place in front …
Stats show highly skilled players inspect weapons most often
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive professional players are often seen inspecting their weapons mid-game. Stats say that it’s not just a pro thing, it’s a high-skill thing. Weapon inspection is pretty common in CSGO, and lets players both show off their skins or take a closer look at a gun they’ve picked up. However, recent statistics prove that weapon inspection is highly connected with what rank a player is. According to Score.gg’s …
How to find and predict the best grenade throws in CSGO
William Davis
Counter-Strike
Finding the latest and greatest grenade throw setups in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive isn’t always easy. But there’s one tool that makes this task a lot more manageable. The grenade prediction feature at SCOPE.GG is a unique software tool that allows players to find any possible grenade in CSGO. It also helps players learn some of the basic and essential grenades for every major map. This includes stand-throw and jump-throw grenades …
Astralis has revealed a massive new gaming facility in Denmark
gabhernandez
Counter-Strike
Astralis Group, the esports organisation behind the world famous Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team Astralis, has revealed that it is opening a brand new massive gaming center on June 19 by the name of Astralis Nexus. The 1200 square meter gaming center is being branded as a “modern gaming paradise” by its owners and will be located next to the Tivoli Gardens in the middle of Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. …
ESIC claims it may have proof Akuma fixed match in Epic CIS RMR
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
The Esports Integrity Commission claims that it has obtained evidence that proves suspicious betting around Akuma’s core squad, which previously played in Project X. The watchdog group alleges it has discovered a connection between Project X CEO Oleksandr Shyshko and a betting account that made repeated successful bets surrounding his team including a controversial match in the Epic League CIS RMR event. The evidence has been forwarded to Valve for …
Gambit vs. Evil Geniuses: IEM Summer 2021 betting analysis
William Davis
Counter-Strike
IEM Summer 2021 is moving into its final stages, starting with a quarterfinal between Gambit and Evil Geniuses. Evil Geniuses will have to get past the top team on the HLTV ranking in Gambit if it wants to continue the journey at IEM Summer. On paper, the battle will be very hard, but there’s a chance for a big upset. So far at the tournament, Evil Geniuses has been a …
FlameZ shows air guitar skills after insane IEM Summer clutch
William Davis
Counter-Strike
After securing a big win over Evil Geniuses at IEM Summer, OG’s Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen and Shahar “flameZ” Shushan shared a strange celebration. OG’s CSGO squad earned a spot at the $250,000 Intel Extreme Masters Summer through the European qualifier. After defeating Team Spirit and Heroic in the group stage, the pan-European team needed to defeat Evil Geniuses for a semifinals start. After both teams won their map picks, the …
These are the most popular crosshairs among CSGO players
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Crosshairs have a massive impact on your gunplay in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Stats have shown that most players opt for a particular type of crosshair in CSGO both in high and low-ranked games. Crosshairs are of utmost importance in any shooter game. The type of crosshair you pick may depend on your play style, but most CSGO players have similar preferences. A classic CSGO crosshair should be static, have a …
Valve is asking CSGO players to help catch boosters and cheaters
William Davis
Counter-Strike
Valve has publicly asked for the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive community’s help in catching matchmaking abusers. The public statement comes just after a massive ban wave that purged over 10,000 accounts from public matchmaking. Informal updates from Valve are rare, so this announcement could indicate that boosted accounts are still a pervasive issue in CSGO. The recent changes to Prime status have brought sweeping effects that Valve hopes will curb matchmaking …
All of the map callouts you need to know for CSGO’s Inferno
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive maps like Dust 2 and Mirage are fairly straightforward, with attackers being funneled into chokepoints to sites and defenders needing to work angles and utility to keep them safe. Then there’s Inferno. While other maps have simple callouts based on locations or specific props, Inferno is completely different. The classic map has an abundance of nooks and crannies that all have different names, and even the larger …
CSGO ban wave takes out over 10,000 cheaters and boosters
William Davis
Counter-Strike
ConVars’ Counter-Strike: Global Offensive stats database detected more than 10,000 bans from July 4 to 6. The massive ban wave appears to be targeting boosted CSGO accounts as well as identified hackers. 10,505 game bans and counting have been doled out over those three days. Around 800 VAC bans have also been applied. This marks the biggest CSGO ban wave of 2021. The massive spike comes after the unranked matchmaking …
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.
