Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
A major CSGO bug lets you hear footsteps from across the map
Fariha Bhatti
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 …
Counter-Strike
oBo styles on Furia Esports with pistol ace in cs_summit 8
William Davis
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 …
Counter-Strike
s1mple just played the worst game of his pro CSGO career
Steven Rondina
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 …
Counter-Strike
This 3,000 IQ play by s1mple helped Na’Vi take a huge win
Steven Rondina
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 …
Counter-Strike
New stats show how many players are at your CSGO rank
William Davis
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
shroud says CSGO is easier than Valorant during live stream
Fariha Bhatti
Former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive professional player Micheal “shroud” Grzesiek thinks Valorant requires both more patience and more effort than CSGO. There’s no end to the comparisons between CSGO and Valve’s new shooter due to their unmistakable similarities. If it weren’t for Riot’s unique agent ability twist, Valorant would easily be a seen as a straight copy of CSGO. However, the two games aren’t exactly the same. Shooting mechanics differ between …
Counter-Strike
With Broken Fang over, when is the next CSGO operation?
Fariha Bhatti
Operation Broken Fang is finally over and players are already looking forward to the next Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pass. CSGO may not get tons of hard-charged updates, but its operation passes are the most anticipated additions to the game. Valve has been rolling out annual passes that bring new maps and other exciting updates. However, the developer can be super spontaneous and drop a brand new update when you expect …
Counter-Strike
ScreaM still prefers CSGO to Valorant, despite success in VCT
Fariha Bhatti
Tyler “Ninja” Blevins recently asked his fans a question, with Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom giving him a surprising answer. Counter-Strike has some of the sharpest shooters in all of esports but even against that fierce competition, ScreaM earned the label of “Headshot Machine.” His departure from the game in favor of Valorant was met with sadness, but a recent tweet shows he’s still a CSGO guy for life even if he’s …
Snax ace can’t stop NiP’s controversial win in Anonymo rematch
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Ninjas in Pyjamas finally managed to win its controversial rematch against Anonymo, but Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski didn’t make it easy. The May 18 game between the two European sides by far one of the most anticipated games of Flashpoint Season 3. The two teams locked horns on May 14, but packet loss issues plagued Anonymo’s win against Ninjas in Pyjamas and created instant controversy. We spoke internally about Flashpoint’s decision, …
The infamous CSGO bug that got 37 coaches banned still exists
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Valve has rolled out several patch updates over the past few months, but one particularly significant bug is still active in the game. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive rarely has game-breaking bugs, but a recent spectator glitch rocked the esports scene. CSGO coach and analyst Sergey “lmbt” Bezhanov highlighted that controversial coach bug can still be triggered during a game. How the fuck it’s still there? Wasn’t in a coach sport for …
NiP vs Anonymo plagued by packet loss, Flashpoint orders rematch
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
The best-of-three series between Ninjas and Pyjamas and Anonymo played on May 14 was plagued by technical pauses and lag issues. The situation has developed into a complicated drama that remains unresolved for now. That May 14 series marked Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz’s debut with NiP against Anonymo. The Swedish team had the odds in its favour against a Polish squad ranked 44 in the world rankings. However, Anonymo wiped out …
Ancient is changed, Trusted mode is fixed in new CSGO update
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Ancient was added suddenly to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s active duty map rotation, and now Valve is scrambling to make it fit for formal competition. Back in 2019, Vertigo was dusted off and added to the competitive map pool. Just three days later the map was added to the professional rotation, replacing a previous mainstay in Cache. What followed was months of overhauls and redesigns to better balance for professional players. …
Could Valve titles be coming back to gaming consoles soon?
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Valve seems to once again be ready to put its games on consoles. Gabe Newell’s staycation in New Zealand is still ongoing, but that doesn’t mean Valve has been spinning its wheels back home in Seattle. In a Q&A at a New Zealand high school, Newell fielded questions from students with one asking “will Steam be putting any games on consoles, or will it just stay on PC?” Newell gave …
Jamppi says he won’t return to CSGO despite Valve rule change
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
Elias “Jamppi” Olkkonen told followers in a recent stream that he will not be returning to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Jamppi received a VAC ban in 2015 that didn’t allow him to compete in any of Valve’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournaments. The CSGO prodigy was then booted from OG due to his inability to play, severely stunting his esports career. Even though ENCE surprisingly signed him after, Jamppi had a continuous …
Is AI the future of CSGO’s anti-cheat? Gabe Newell says yes
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Gabe Newell is still happily stranded in New Zealand and surprisingly, he’s much more talkative about Valve than he usually is. The Valve president recently did a question-and-answer session at a high school, which was recorded by a student in attendance. A long list of subjects were touched upon, with Counter-Strike’s anti-cheat issues being among them. Newell was vague in his response. “A lot of the work we’re going to …
Allu takes leave from ENCE as roster breakdown continues
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
ENCE AWPer Aleksi “allu” Jalli has announced a temporary break from competitive Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, citing “personal reasons.” The legendary Finnish player will be stepping back from professional play for the foreseeable future to rest and recuperate. Polish player Olek “hades” Miskiewicz will be substituted in for allu, but the timeline for his return is still unknown. The new stand-in is a young talent from Poland and has previously competed …
CSGO dev insists that Valve’s community management is great
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
If gamers felt a strange chill run up their spine in the last few days, it likely came from the fact that Valve is giving lessons to other developers in how to do community management. The developer of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2 dusted off the Steamworks Development channel on YouTube to publish presentations on game development, with one of them being a detailed breakdown of how Valve approaches …
This post-plant molotov lineup warrants easy win on Dust 2
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Dust 2 is all about spraying and praying. But these new post-plant lineups proves that sometimes utility can save the day. Dust 2 is a tricky site to take control of, especially if Counter-Terrorists have an AWPer holding long. However, it’s better to tactically move into the A site than die to an SMG close range at the B site. On Dust 2, B site is a lion’s den that …
These grenade lineups are crucial for playing on Ancient
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Valve has finally rolled out a new map for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s competitive pool, and it’s a bit different than other active duty locations. CSGO’s competitive experience was completely transformed with the addition of a hot new location, Ancient. The new map replaced Train after a six-year tenure. The drastic change prompted mixed reactions from CSGO fans who admired Train’s complex design, but players are finally getting the hang of …
New CSGO patch upgrades chicken models, brings new skins, and more
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
New Counter-Strike: Global Offensive patch notes mark the end of Operation Broken Fang. But it brings tons of stuff for players to sink their teeth in. Valve has rolled in a whole new case with bubbly skins for CSGO weapons, a new map, and a model update for the chickens. The May 4th update is one of the most significant ones since Valve added Vertigo to the active duty map …
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.
