Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Broken Fang Premier now open to all players, Zeus gets changed
M Alzamora
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 …
Counter-Strike
dev1ce clutches a round by replicating s1mple’s AWP decoy on Dust 2
Fariha Bhatti
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 …
Counter-Strike
The complete list of Nvidia settings for high CSGO FPS in 2021
M Alzamora
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 …
Counter-Strike
Cloud9 terminates its CSGO team, considers a later return
William Davis
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 …
Counter-Strike
Watch out, the Krieg may soon be returning to the CSGO meta
William Davis
The SG-553 is slowly making a comeback in the professional meta of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, with star player Nikola “Niko” Kovac spearheading the potential shift in rifle priority. The SG-553, better known as the Krieg, is creeping back into the CSGO meta. The scoped rifle, which was considered to be the strongest gun in the game for a time, hadn’t seen much action since being nerved by Valve just under …
Counter-Strike
MICHU reportedly set to replace ISSAA on OG CSGO roster
William Davis
According to reports, Michal “MICHU” Muller is set to join OG as the new fifth member of its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster. The Polish rifler would be filling the gap left by Issa “ISSAA” Murad, who recently left the squad. OG’s CSGO lineup has experienced a tumultuous start to the year, with both ISSAA and Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt moving to the bench in recent weeks. OG announced Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen …
Counter-Strike
How to fix new CSGO bug that randomly lowers mouse sensitivity
Fariha Bhatti
Is your sensitivity randomly dropping mid-game? Fret not, your mouse is not broken. It’s just the latest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive bug that is lowering down players’ mouse sensitivity without warning. CSGO players have been experiencing a unique bug in-game that changes their sensitivity to its lowest value. The glitch occurs randomly in the middle of a game, which is causing frustration among competitive players. Many Steam users have reported that …
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 …
FURIA versus Gambit predictions for ESL Pro League group C
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
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. …
shroud is worried about CSGO as more players switch to Valorant
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
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 …
Destructible Inferno allows you to blow this famous map apart
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
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 …
Valve is taunting CSGO haters with its new Source 2 tease
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s visuals have seen a bunch of upgrades over the past several years, but the game’s likely move to Source 2 might have something even more impressive in store with all the ways Valve is reminding fans that it’s coming. The developer’s latest tease poked fun at CSGO’s doubters in the form of an unused post-processing setting inside the files of Source 2 game Half-Life Alyx. An unused …
ZywOo and dev1ce are struggling, as latest CSGO rankings show
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
It has been a crazy run of tournaments in professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive recently, but this week’s CSGO rankings were even more surprising than was anticipated. It’s not just which players made it into the top ten, but also which two famous players dropped out. Vitality’s Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and Astralis’ Nicolai “device” Reedtz found themselves on the outside looking in this week as they fell behind the pack in …
CSGO update adds 3 new music kits, fan-favorite sticker capsule
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Thursday’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive update added three new music kits for players to purchase on top of a new sticker capsule featuring poorly-drawn versions of CSGO’s agents. CSGO’s March 18 update was a happy surprise for fans, especially now that the game’s latest operation, Operation Broken Fang, is in its final days. The update introduced some fun new content with the highlight being a Hades music kit by Darren Korb, …
NBK says he wants to play with kennyS again
William Davis
Counter-Strike
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 …
kennyS reiterates that he isn’t done with CSGO with great ace
William Davis
Counter-Strike
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 …
CSGO pro ropz’s PC crashes close to winning, team loses the big game
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
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, …
OG officially signs niko to CSGO roster after benching ISSAA
William Davis
Counter-Strike
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, …
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.
