Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Fnatic versus Team Liquid predictions for ESL Pro league Group D
William Davis
In the final group of the ESL Pro League, another six teams will compete to lock in a spot in the play-offs of the tournament. All teams in Group D are eager to scoop a lion’s share of the $750,000 prize pool the tournament boasts. The group is arguably one of the most competitive, with Astralis, Evil Geniuses, Team Liquid, Virtus.pro, Endpoint, and Fnatic locking horns. Only three teams will …
Counter-Strike
FURIA versus Gambit predictions for ESL Pro League group C
M Alzamora
Some might think that ESL Pro League’s group C is just a warmup for the league’s stacked group D, but the upcoming match between FURIA and Gambit may prove them wrong. Both teams are ranked in CSGO’s top-five, with each roster riding its own win streak coming into the match. There is a ton of talent on both sides, making this EPL matchup one that fans won’t want to miss. …
Counter-Strike
shroud is worried about CSGO as more players switch to Valorant
Fariha Bhatti
Former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pro Michael “shroud” Grzesiek has once again weighed in on the CSGO versus Valorant debate, and this time he seems concerned about his former “main game”. When Riot’s tactical shooter was released in 2020, players were quick to compare it to CSGO, one of the most venerated tactical shooters ever made. FPS fans have pitted Valorant against CSGO, but both games have succeeded with their own …
Counter-Strike
Destructible Inferno allows you to blow this famous map apart
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive doesn’t feature many props for players to break on their way to a winning round, but a new workshop map has brought back the series’ more destructible environments to Inferno. Destructible Inferno is the latest hit on the CSGO workshop, and it’s easy to see why. Community creators Lion Doge and Angel have not only brought new physics props to the popular map, but they’ve twisted the …
Counter-Strike
NBK says he wants to play with kennyS again
William Davis
Nathan “NBK” Schmitt recently discussed his departure from OG, how he’s working on improving himself, and what the future might bring. In an interview with French website 1pv.fr, NBK says he learned a lot while playing for OG. He pays extra attention to the human aspect, as he thinks he improved with managing personalities. But things weren’t perfect, and in the past few months his relation with in-game leader Aleksi …
Counter-Strike
kennyS reiterates that he isn’t done with CSGO with great ace
William Davis
Amid questions about his future, Kenny “kennyS” Schrub scored a ridiculous ace in a game in the FACEIT Pro League, showing he still has the skills to compete with the best in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The French AWPer was streaming his FPL game when he scored the ace. His team was down 0-10 on Mirage when kennyS pulled out his Deagle on an eco round. He hit headshots on his …
Counter-Strike
CSGO pro ropz’s PC crashes close to winning, team loses the big game
Fariha Bhatti
Disconnecting in the middle of a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive rank-up game can indeed be testing for your nerves. CSGO pro Robin “ropz” Kool dealt with the common mid-game PC crash issue, except it wasn’t a regular competitive game. mousesports’ journey in ESL Pro League 13 has been bumpy, and ropz disconnecting at 14-14 scoreline only made matters worse. The team has established a firm spot alongside the world’s best teams, …
Counter-Strike
OG officially signs niko to CSGO roster after benching ISSAA
William Davis
OG has unveiled Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen as a permanent part of its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster, after the Dane competed as a stand-in for the team. The announcement comes just a day after OG announced that it had benched Issa “ISSAA” Murad. niko had already been playing with OG for a while, as he filled the gap left by Nathan “NBK” Schmitt’s departure earlier this month. With niko on the …
This brand new Molotov bug can break Overpass games
William Davis
Counter-Strike
A new bug involving the Molotov grenade in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has been discovered. The different grenades in CSGO have a history of not working as intended. HE grenades often have trouble when thrown near edges on a map, and smokes are notorious for not completely blocking off vision. Now, a recently discovered bug with the Molotov changes the distance these fiery grenades can travel. The bug was discovered on …
Explaining all of the different roles on a CSGO team
William Davis
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a first-person shooter with a heavy emphasis on the tactical part of the game. Players have to do much more than just shoot the enemy in order to be consistently successful. With this in mind, these are the different roles that exist within a CSGO team. The in-game leader, or IGL for short, is the tactical mastermind behind the team. They decide what the team does, …
Astralis report shows it lost $8.5M million through 2020
William Davis
Counter-Strike
The Astralis Group has unveiled its annual financial results, with the organization producing an $8.5 million operational loss over the past year. The Astralis Group, which field rosters in popular titles including Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and League of Legends, has to make its yearly revenue public as it is a public company. In the past year, the team earned around $8.26M with the lion’s share coming from its CSGO team. …
OG’s CSGO roster down to 3 players as ISSAA gets benched
Fariha Bhatti
News
OG has deactivated another rifler, Issa “ISSAA” Murad, following a disappointing run in ESL Pro League season 13. The team’s lurker will move to the bench, effective immediately. The decision comes less than a month after OG removed Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt from its active roster and brought in Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen as a stand-in. The organization announced ISSAA’s benching and revealed that an internal rebuild is underway. .@OG_ISSAA and the …
It’s almost impossible to stop this execute on Dust 2’s A site
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Are you scared of rushing B on Dust 2? This proper A setup may help you play a more composed game. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s most-played map is also the one that’s most difficult to master. Dust 2 can be a hellhole if you don’t have great aim and know your lineups. This makes teamwork critical, which isn’t always easy to come by in regular matchmaking. The map is designed to …
New weapons, enemies coming in Operation Broken Fang finale
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Tuesday night’s update for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive may have been small, but it primed the game for the final chapter of Operation Broken Fang. Developers pushed a patch in CSGO, intentionally including building blocks for next week’s Operation Broken Fang finale. Players will head back to the cooperative Autumn Harvest map from week one and “delve deeper into the Phoenix facility.” Heavy spoilers follow: Players will face off against a …
Dust 2, Inferno, and Vertigo have just turned 20 years old
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
20 years ago, Counter-Strike fans played their first games on what are now some of the most famous maps in gaming history. Dust 2, Inferno, and Vertigo each celebrated two decades of play this weekend. On March 13, 2000, CS 1.1 was released, and it looked little like the modern first-person shooter that over 1,000,000 players will log into today. Player models looked very different, and players still had to …
New custom map lets players reenact CSGO’s greatest clutches
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Even though Counter-Strike: Global Offensive doesn’t see many mods, the game’s custom maps are a great way for players to try out something new. This week, an impressive map by Ansimist came out, letting players relive 15 clutch moments by some of CSGO’s most popular professional players. The map offers a ton of replayability with a handful of moments to start and more that can be unlocked as players gain …
Nivera steps down from Vitality’s roster
William Davis
Counter-Strike
Belgian AWPer Nabil “Nivera” Benrlitom is stepping down from Vitality’s starting roster, as the team abandons its six-man roster in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Nivera joined Vitality back in October of last year, being introduced as the team’s sixth player. He initially only played on Dust II and Inferno but was later given playtime on Nuke as well. With Nivera on the roster, Vitality won IEM Beijing-Haidan and the Blast Premier …
Relog Media accused of underpaying its CSGO broadcast talent
William Davis
Counter-Strike
Serbian company Relog Media is being accused of underpaying members of the broadcast talent team working its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive events. CSGO commentator pr0nogo accused Serbian company Relog Media and its partner GRID Esports of underpaying its on-air broadcast talent. The companies are best known for the production of the Snow Sweet Snow and Pinnacle Cup events. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to stop beating around the bush. Meet @EsportsKieran, …
Blast Premier NA Qualifier plagued by technical issues
William Davis
Counter-Strike
The North American Open Qualifier for the Blast Premier showdown last weekend saw several players complaining openly about server issues, technical difficulties, and bug exploits. The drama started when Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player Tyler “tweiss” Weiss posted a clip on Twitter. In the clip, he and his teammates were killed by an invisible opponent who only became visible when tweiss and his teammates were already dead. y’all can keep this …
CSGO’s Steam store page disappearing reveals hidden Steam apps
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Early in the morning of March 9, Valve’s flagship first-person shooter Counter-Strike: Global Offensive disappeared from the Steam Store. Players could still play it and could even find it when searching the Steam Store, but for an hour, CSGO and some other games blinked in and out of existence. SteamDB creator Pavel X tweeted out a quick CSGO joke before saying that he thought the hiccup was a bug due …
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.
