Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Valve is asking CSGO players to help catch boosters and cheaters
William Davis
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 …
Counter-Strike
All of the map callouts you need to know for CSGO’s Inferno
Steven Rondina
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 …
Counter-Strike
CSGO ban wave takes out over 10,000 cheaters and boosters
William Davis
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 …
News
All of the callouts you need to know for Mirage in CSGO
Steven Rondina
Though Dust 2 is the most popular Counter-Strike: Global Offensive map in the game’s history, Mirage has nearly been able to keep up with it among pro and casual players alike. Because of that, anyone who queues for every defusal map has a pretty darn good chance of winding up on Mirage. That means that it’s always a good idea to brush up on the map’s proper callouts. Mirage is …
Man drops over $240,000 to get first level 5,000 Steam account
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
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, …
Ranked matchmaking and drops now exclusive to CSGO Prime users
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
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 …
CIS teams are calling on Valve and ESIC to investigate Akuma
William Davis
Counter-Strike
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 …
Are Desert Eagle force buys the new meta game changers in CSGO?
Jared Wynne
Counter-Strike
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 …
coldzera out of FaZe Clan roster ahead of BLAST Premier Spring
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Ace rifler Marcelo “coldzera” David will no longer be stalking the servers for FaZe Clan. The professional player has announced his removal from the active roster. FaZe’s former in-game leader Coldzera has announced his departure from the starting lineup on Twitter after reports saying he was set to depart the team. The Brazillian rifler revealed that the team’s declining performance had caused him to explore new options outside of FaZe …
Team Liquid conquers Furia Esports to win cs_summit 8
William Davis
Counter-Strike
After a convincing 3-1 victory over Furia Esports, Team Liquid has won cs_summit 8. Hosts Beyond the Summit called in eight teams from North and South American to compete for $50,000 and 10,000 Regional Majors Rankings points with Liquid taking the trophy through a solid run in the upper bracket. The boys in blue have stayed competitive in 2021, but this is the squad’s first big win of the year. …
Valve forces Na`Vi and Entropiq rematch at EPIC League
William Davis
Counter-Strike
After an unprecedented mutual agreement to not play out the fifth-place decider, Na`Vi and Entropiq will be forced to compete by Valve. The situation was revealed in an official statement from the Russian Esports Federation, which partnered with Epic Esports Entertainment to host EPIC CIS League Spring. The decision comes two days after the teams had agreed to split points evenly without playing. The decision was likely spurred by EPIC …
What’s the best resolution and aspect ratio to use in CSGO?
Jared Wynne
Counter-Strike
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. …
s1mple attacks EPIC League for lack of anti-cheat, POV replays
William Davis
Counter-Strike
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 …
A CSGO pro survived getting shot by an AWP, and here’s how
William Davis
Counter-Strike
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 …
Na`Vi eliminated from ESL CIS League with loss to Team Spirit
William Davis
Counter-Strike
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 …
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.
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
