Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Astralis vs Gambit Esports: ESL Pro League betting analysis
William Davis
Gambit Esports and Astralis will face off this Friday, and only one of them will stay in contentions for the title at ESL Pro League Season 13. Astralis and Gambit have only met once before. In the quarterfinals of DreamHack Masters Europe 2020, Astralis secured a comfortable 2-0 victory over the young CIS squad. Since that loss, Gambit has experienced a meteoric rise in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene. The …
Counter-Strike
Heroic’s sjuush catapults to No. 2 in CSGO Player rankings
M Alzamora
There’s something to be said for a young player impressing on a big stage, and that’s what Heroic’s Rasmus “sjuush” Beck has done this month. Amongst the usual pro players on this week’s top 10 CSGO players is an unlikely name, but it’s one that deserves attention thanks to his special performances. sjuush shot to number two this week thanks to some impressive performances on Train, Vertigo, and Mirage. It’s …
Counter-Strike
Astralis and Gambit are almost tied atop CSGO team rankings
M Alzamora
Astralis holds this week’s top CSGO ranking ahead of the Pro League finals, but Gambit might use an old Astralis trick to grab the top spot. It’s been a rollercoaster week for CSGO, and ESL Pro League has been a window into how the game’s top teams are doing in the first half of 2021. This week’s group D delivered, with teams looking rusty early in contests that went all …
Counter-Strike
Cloud9 and HenryG part ways after failed CSGO roster
M Alzamora
Cloud9 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive general manager Henry “HenryG” Greer have officially parted ways. HenryG is officially out as Cloud9’s CSGO general manager after less than a year spent in the role. The former caster joined Cloud9 in October 2020, instantly making waves in the competitive CSGO community by being the first general manager to publicly release the details of his players’ contracts. Both HenryG and C9 made the announcement …
Counter-Strike
Will Operation Broken Fang’s case and skins be discontinued?
M Alzamora
Operations hold a special place in the hearts of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players, but what happens to the exclusive cases once they end? CSGO features some of the best weapon skins out of any game, especially when it comes to its operations. The limited-time events have expanded the selection of skins ever since Operation Payback, adding new features and missions as well. So do players need to scramble in order …
Counter-Strike
Broken Fang hints point to Mirage finally getting a map update
M Alzamora
Broken Fang is almost over and seems to have left hints about Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s next chapter out in plain sight. CSGO knows easter eggs. From the game’s many QR codes to the Portal cameo on Blacksite, Valve seems to enjoy it. So while Operation Broken Fang wasn’t a big surprise, developers still had some hints in store for players. Valve wasn’t shy about putting both Mirage and Ancient in …
Counter-Strike
The complete Nvidia guide to getting better FPS in Valorant
M Alzamora
Getting the most out of Valorant means wringing out as many frames per second as possible, and these four quick tips can help players do just that. Valorant isn’t a demanding game on players’ graphics cards, but these settings will help increase FPS, especially on a low-end PC. But even if players have a monster machine, there’s no reason not to boost it even further with these simple options. Our …
Counter-Strike
NiKo shows off smoke lineup that shuts down AWPers on Inferno
Fariha Bhatti
Tired of dying to AWPers camping B-site coffins on Inferno? Nikola “NiKo” Kovač has the perfect recipe to tackle the issue. Inferno’s B site becomes a lion’s den if the enemy team has a skilled AWPer watching banana. Opening the area becomes almost impossible without proper utility and sacrificing at least one teammate. The narrow entryway doesn’t give the T side many options and provides the AWPer with an advantage …
All of the correct Dust 2 callouts in CSGO
William Davis
Counter-Strike
Learning the correct callouts in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is vital if you want to improve in the game. One of the best things about CSGO is the depth of the tactical aspect of the game. You can always learn new things and improve. If you want to get better on Dust 2, then this guide is just what you need. Here are all the different callouts on the map, as …
How to avoid CSGO scam Seven Town and protect your Steam account
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Here’s what players need to know about Seven Town, the classic CSGO scam that’s once again making the rounds on the Steam platform. Seven Town is the latest scam to hit Steam users, with reports of accounts being stolen appearing on Reddit, the Steam forums, and Twitter. The scam is a new twist on an old formula, and it’s being used to phish account passwords, steal accounts, and empty the …
You can now play Valorant maps inside CSGO, just like WarOwl
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Have you ever wondered what a combination of two top rival first-person shooting games would look like? Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has reigned over the FPS universe for the last decade. The game’s appeal is peerless, as it has set an extraordinary benchmark that no other FPS title could match. After all, Valve’s shooter created an esports ecosystem that has nourished hundreds of talented professional players. Then came Riot Games’ own …
FBI working with ESIC in investigating CSGO match-fixing
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
The commissioner of the Esports Integrity Commission revealed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating allegations of match-fixing in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. 2020’s accusations of CSGO matchfixing in ESL’s Mountain Dew League shook the game, but least part of the problem was more serious than many previously thought. According to an interview with ESIC commissioner Ian Smith, the commission became aware of multiple players in MDL that were being …
CSGO pro player ALEX might be switching to Valorant soon
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
It seems that Cloud9’s former in-game leader Alex “ALEX” McMeekin is finally making the big switch from one popular first-person shooter to the other, as he is registered to play in the Valorant Champions tour with a French team. Unlike other Counter-Strike: Global Offensive professional players switching to Riot’s tactical shooter, ALEX didn’t make a formal announcement. Instead, the news came out when his name was spotted on the registration …
Broken Fang Premier now open to all players, Zeus gets changed
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Tuesday’s update for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive opened up a part of Operation Broken Fang to all players and added a skin to CSGO’s most underused weapon, but two unannounced changes are what players should be paying attention to. Even though this week’s CSGO update wasn’t a big one, it did open up CSGO’s pick-and-ban matchmaking to the game’s entire player base right before it fixed a long-standing mistake on CSGO’s …
dev1ce clutches a round by replicating s1mple’s AWP decoy on Dust 2
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Astralis continues its stellar win streak against Team Liquid as the team bags its first win in ESL Pro League with Nicolai “device” Reedtz as the hero. The Danish AWPer entered the server with a well-oiled Sniper that helped him drop 76 kills across two maps. While he displayed impeccable performance loaded with aces and clutches, his AWP decoy stood out as it refreshed Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev’s original fake throw …
The complete list of Nvidia settings for high CSGO FPS in 2021
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players might want to dive back into Nvidia’s driver settings, because there’s a new option that can massively boost your FPS. While Nvidia is pretty good about making sure players have the drivers they need to run today’s games at high frame rates, it’s also pretty bad at advertising its newer settings for older games. That’s the case in 2021 with CSGO, where a new setting can …
Cloud9 terminates its CSGO team, considers a later return
William Davis
Counter-Strike
Cloud9 has decided to temporarily pull out of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, only months after heavily investing in a brand new roster. The decision follows a string of disappointing results, as Cloud9 failed to qualify for IEM Katowice and didn’t make it out of its group in the ESL Pro League. The roster, which was assembled in September of last year, has been placed on the bench and its players are …
Teardown lets you destroy Dust 2 in this workshop map on Steam
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
The Steam cult-hit Teardown takes players to a whole bunch of different places in search of demolition work, but modders have already created Counter-Strike: Global Offensive maps for players to tear down. Players rarely get the opportunity to remake maps from CSGO, let alone destroy them while riding around in one of the map’s usually undrivable cars. But that’s exactly what players can do in this workshop map for Teardown, …
Kjaerbye reunites with former North players for new CSGO roster
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Markus “Kjaerbye” Kjærbye is all set for his return to competitive Counter-Strike: Global Offensive with a full-fledged Danish roster. As reported by 1pv.fr, five Danes once scattered across different team benches are reuniting to form a fresh CSGO roster. The lineup will feature kjaerby, Nicklas “gade” Gade, Philip “aizy” Aistrup, Johannes “b0RUP” Borup, Frederik “Fessor” Sørense. “Since North ceased operations I had been talking back and forth with kjaerbye and …
s1mple’s OP criticism triggers a debate between CSGO and Valorant pros
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev’s stream has once again reignited the infamous Valorant versus Counter-Strike: Global Offensive debate with Operator at its center. Riot’s tactical shooter has heavily rocked CSGO esports, roping in some of the biggest stars like Tyson “TenZ” Ngo, Ethan “Ethan” Arnold, Spencer “Hiko” Martin, and many more. Valorant’s undeniable similarities with CSGO were a huge selling point that attracted many players. The game patched up the classic FPS …
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.
