Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Man drops over $240,000 to get first level 5,000 Steam account
Fariha Bhatti
Leveling up on Steam isn’t cheap, but this gamer from Qatar has gone all-out to become the owner of the highest-level Steam account in the world. Steam is a great platform to collect all your games in one place and enjoy them, but a select few players like to spend tons of hours collecting cards in order to climb the Steam level ladder. It’s a whole different game unto itself, …
Counter-Strike
Ranked matchmaking and drops now exclusive to CSGO Prime users
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive just got its biggest matchmaking update in years. After years of player complaints regarding the game’s free-to-play status and the influx of cheaters it has brought, Valve is taking action and effectively making CSGO no longer free-to-play. A number of key features of the game are now being moved behind a paywall which should clean up the game to some degree. “CSGO went free to play over …
Counter-Strike
CIS teams are calling on Valve and ESIC to investigate Akuma
William Davis
15 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams from the CIS region have signed an open letter requesting Valve to investigate Akuma’s surprise performance at EPIC CIS League Spring. The move comes after an unprecedented third-place run by the team, which elevated it all the way to #19 on HLTV’s global CSGO rankings. EPIC League CIS lacked several security measures, including third-party anticheat, team communications recording, and POV replays. This has brought Akuma’s …
Counter-Strike
Are Desert Eagle force buys the new meta game changers in CSGO?
Jared Wynne
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is experiencing a new meta led by the Desert Eagle. Flashpoint 3, the most recent Regional Major Rankings event in professional CSGO, featured the top teams in the world who collectively revealed a trend in the round following the pistol rounds. Seen in both the first and second halves’ opening rounds, the team that lost the pistol frequently opted for a force buy of Desert Eagles to …
Counter-Strike
What’s the best resolution and aspect ratio to use in CSGO?
Jared Wynne
Can one resolution and aspect ratio combination be better than the rest? We aim to answer that question below. It all depends on what you are most comfortable with, as texture quality, FPS, and field of view all change based on your video settings. What you choose to play with should ultimately come from personal preference, not necessarily what pro players use. Each option has its benefits over the others. …
Counter-Strike
s1mple attacks EPIC League for lack of anti-cheat, POV replays
William Davis
Natus Vincere’s disappointing sixth-place finish was strange, but it wasn’t the weirdest thing happening at EPIC CIS League Spring. According to all-star Na`Vi AWPer Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev, tournament host EPIC League skipped out on several basic security measures that are meant to ensure fair play. The CIS Regional Major Rankings event lacked anti-cheat, team voice recording, and replays. Those features are considered the bare minimum for security at most competitive …
Counter-Strike
A CSGO pro survived getting shot by an AWP, and here’s how
William Davis
In a crucial 30th round at Flashpoint Season 3, G2 Esports’ François “AmaNEk” Delaunay somehow missed a point-blank AWP shot against Ninjas in Pyjamas’ Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz. The misfire took place in the semifinals of Flashpoint Season 3. Both teams had taken a game and were set to decide things on Dust 2. After somehow surviving the shot, dev1ce and the rest of NiP took the round to secure a …
Counter-Strike
Na`Vi eliminated from ESL CIS League with loss to Team Spirit
William Davis
After a string of unexpected losses in the group stage and playoffs, Natus Vincere’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive squad is out of the EPIC CIS League Spring, leaving the event in sixth place. Despite entering as a top seed alongside Gambit Esports and Virtus.pro, Na`Vi will leave the event with just $2,000. Shock losses in the playoffs to Akuma and Team Spirit earned Na`Vi its worst result since ESL One: Road …
CSGO team with average age of 75 to receive national recognition
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
Ukraine is celebrating a unique Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team that features an entire roster of players over the age of 66. The Young Guard squad’s average age is 75 years and two months. The oldest player is almost 79 years old. This is definitely a sight to see in the competitive CSGO scene, where even being 30 years old is considered near retirement age for a pro player. But despite …
mousesports vs. NiP: Flashpoint 3 finals betting analysis
William Davis
Counter-Strike
20 days of world-class Counter-Strike will conclude when the Flashpoint 3 grand final kicks off between mousesports and Ninjas in Pyjamas. One of two teams that are long on history but short on recent results will walk away with a trophy and a good chunk of RMR points for the upcoming PGL Stockholm Major. Both teams have made recent changes to their rosters and are now starting to look like …
The fourth 32-0 victory ever was just recorded in pro CSGO
William Davis
Counter-Strike
Losing 16-0 is a humiliating rite of passage for most CSGO players, but a 32-0 loss in a professional tournament is another level of pain. That’s exactly what Dire Wolves gave to Overperformers in a group stage match at ESEA Premier Season 37 Australia. The perfect victory took place early in the round-robin group stage, giving Dire Wolves an equally flawless 4-0 record. The match was only the fourth double …
NiKo calls out Valorant for being easy, stealing CSGO players
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Legendary Counter-Strike: Global Offensive professional player Nicola “NiKo” Kovac isn’t a big fan of Valorant. The Valorant Champions Tour event in Iceland is Valorant’s biggest and most anticipated event so far. It’s also the first LAN event for Riot’s shooter, which has managed to garner a peak concurrent viewership of 750,000 during a game between Team Liquid and Version1. Even if you’re not following the matches closely, the social media …
A major CSGO bug lets you hear footsteps from across the map
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
If you’ve ever heard spooky noises in waters across Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s maps, it’s likely a bug, one that professional player Martin “STYKO” Styk has just highlighted. FunPlus Phoenix’s CSGO pro STYKO called out Valve to fix a long-standing bug in maps with water that “ruins a lot of games.” The pro player encountered the bug in the new map Ancient with a pond in the terrorist spawn area. either …
oBo styles on Furia Esports with pistol ace in cs_summit 8
William Davis
Counter-Strike
Furia Esports looks strong at cs_summit 8, but Evil Geniuses’ prodigy rifler gave them a scare in a group stage elimination match. Evil Geniuses and Furia Esports both stumbled in their debut matches, losing to paiN Gaming and O Plano, respectively. The squads were put against each other for one last chance at the playoffs. After winning in double overtime on Overpass, Furia dominated their CT half of Inferno. After …
s1mple just played the worst game of his pro CSGO career
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev is the best Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player in the world, but that doesn’t mean he can dominate every game. Sometimes he’s mediocre, and every once in a long while, he’s catastrophically bad. One of those bad outings came in the Epic CIS League. Facing off against the little-known Akuma in the first round of the playoffs, s1mple posted what is statistically his worst performance since joining Natus …
This 3,000 IQ play by s1mple helped Na’Vi take a huge win
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev is the best Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player in the world and it isn’t just because of his amazing aim. He also just makes incredibly smart plays. Case and point is a stunt he pulled in the Epic CIS League. Playing against Gambit Esports on Train’s CT side, s1mple found himself in a fortuitous situation as he came up behind Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov, who was carrying the bomb …
This triple boost on Nuke could change your next game
William Davis
Counter-Strike
An aggressive three-man boost secured Double Poney a Top 8 spot at the $50,000 Flashpoint Season 3. Boosting is an interesting mechanic unique to CSGO. The act of stacking players on top of each other has been labeled a glitch, and exploit, and even a fair and balanced strategy. Getting three people to coordinate is tough, but the rewards can be well worth it. See Double Poney, who used a …
Fan brings CSGO map Inferno to life with a 3D printed model
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
A fan took his love for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive map Inferno to a whole new level by bringing it to life. CSGO fans can be highly creative when it comes to showcasing their love for Valve’s shooter. CalebTimoteo recreated Inferno’s B site into a real-life 3D version, and fans can’t help but heap praises on his art. Caleb’s Inferno looked slightly different from the in-game B site due to a …
FunPlus Phoenix score IEM Summer slot over BIG and G2 Esports
William Davis
Counter-Strike
A series of shock upsets from FunPlus Phoenix have secured the team a spot at the $250,000 Summer Intel Extreme Masters XVI. FPX was directly invited to the European closed qualifier, but they weren’t expected to go far. The HLTV-ranked #17 team was up against juggernauts including FaZe Clan, BIG, and G2 Esports. Despite their low seed, FPX managed a trio of 2-1 series victories to earn a spot at …
New stats show how many players are at your CSGO rank
William Davis
Counter-Strike
Ever wonder where you stand on the CSGO totem pole? Training service Leetify analyzed over 7 million players to determine rank distribution in Counter-Strike. Gold Nova 4 is the modal rank, shared by almost 9% of players. Taken together, the Gold Nova ranks include almost a third of the total player base, making it the most populated division by far. The Silver and Master Guardian ranks comprise 27.42% and 27.57% …
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.
