Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
BLAST Premier schedule released, and these are the best games
M Alzamora
The schedule for BLAST Premier’s Global Final is here, and fans are in for two days of matches that they won’t want to miss. After its annual winter player break, professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams are headed back to competition. Starting on January 19, eight teams will face off against one another to finish off the 2020 tournament year. Astralis, G2 Esports, Natus Vincere, Complexity, Vitality, FURIA, Evil Geniuses, and …
Counter-Strike
JUGi to stand in for Complexity during BLAST Premier Global Finals
M Alzamora
Complexity Gaming will play Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s upcoming BLAST Global Finals with former North player Jakob “JUGi” Hansen, according to a tweet from the organization’s official Twitter account. Fans have known that the team would be without AWPer Valentin “poizon” Vasilev for the tournament. #COLCS Update: @JUGiOfficial will be standing in for us during @BLASTPremier as @PoizonCSGO continues to recover.#WeAreCOL pic.twitter.com/IkXrRHQNUv — Complexity Gaming (@Complexity) January 12, 2021 The North American …
Counter-Strike
This Inferno one-way smoke makes defending B much easier
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players can use this one-way smoke for Inferno’s B site to help even the odds on the classic map. One-way smokes are a powerful tool in any CSGO player’s arsenal. The one-way smoke owes its usefulness to the way that it both blocks the player from being seen by the enemy team in addition to allowing the player an clear view of the area it covers. If …
Counter-Strike
mousesports looks to replace karrigan as contract nears its end
Fariha Bhatti
mousesports’ in-game leader Finn “karrigan” Andersen is exploring other options as his contract’s end approaches. The German organization has confirmed that karrigan is free to seek out new opportunities. mousesports’ contract with karrigan ends in March, which has left many questions on the player’s future with the team. Given karrigan’s success with mousesports it is possible he will return to the team, but he is looking into other possibilities before …
News
MIBR loses its last two players as trk and kNgV step down
Fariha Bhatti
MIBR’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player evacuation has come to an end, as the final two players, Vito “kNgV-” Giuseppe and Alencar “trk” Rossato, have moved to the bench. kNgV announced his departure from the team’s active roster in a TwitLonger in which he renounced financial issues to be the reason behind his exit. The player clarified that the organisation’s lack of communication has caused him to give up on the …
Counter-Strike
flusha steps down from Fnatic after rumors of forming new team
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive veteran Robin “flusha” Rönnquist has removed himself from the roster of Fnatic, the organization announced today. Fnatic announced that the rifler had moved to the team’s inactive list in a post on the organization’s website along with a tweet announcing the news. Soon after, flusha confirmed the news and revealed that he had chosen to step down and explore other options in competitive CSGO. Fnatic CS:GO — Roster …
Counter-Strike
FURIA benches HEN1 as he seeks to play with brother LUCAS1
Fariha Bhatti
FURIA has moved Henrique “HEN1” Teles to its bench at the player’s request. The announcement results from the AWPer’s wish to compete alongside his brother, Lucas “LUCAS1” Teles, who’s currently a free agent. Following a request made by HEN1, the player will now be free to seek for new options alongside his brother and will remain on the bench while this process lasts.Read more: https://t.co/eL4fDe0VAf — FURIA (@FURIA) January 8, …
Counter-Strike
Valve removes weapon pings and bots in competitive CSGO update
M Alzamora
While Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s January 7 update may have been”small” in Valve’s words, the developer included a massive change to how CSGO’s classic competitive five-versus-five and two-versus-two wingman modes work in CSGO and fixed a major game bug. And some players are very angry about it. Valve has decided to remove the replacement bots that spawn when a player disconnects from CSGO’s competitive and wingman modes. After the patch, bots …
flusha may leave Fnatic to start new team with autimatic, suNny
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Timothy “autimatic” Ta, Robin “flusha” Rönnquist, and Miikka “suNny” Kemppi are reportedly working together and talking with organizations about becoming sponsored. A report from DBLTAP states that multiple sources have said that the three players have approached several organizations about the prospective roster. Gen.G has publicly stated that it has allowed autimatic to seek other opportunities for the upcoming year, while suNny is in limbo on ENCE’s bench. But while …
Who dominated the Red Bull Flick CSGO tournament in Australia?
William Davis
Counter-Strike
Red Bull pounced on one of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s newest game modes, Hold The Flag, to create a one-of-a-kind esports event known as Red Bull Flick. The idea for Red Bull Flick came about from the realization that, like most professional sports, the way competitive CSGO is set up means there might be some good players flying under the radar. Because of the game’s heavy team-based nature, a player with …
Cloud9 to drop Woxic for Xeppaa according to report
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Cloud9’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive squad is set to make its second roster change in less than a month, according to a new report. The North American esports organization is preparing to make yet another change to its recently revamped roster according to a report from RushB Media. The team is looking to bring in former Chaos Esports rifler Erick “Xeppaa” Bach to replace AWPer Özgür “woxic” Eker, who is said …
Map creators tease the debut of Tuscan’s new CSGO version
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Map developers Catfood and Brute have revealed a glimpse of classic Counter-Strike map Tuscan remade for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The map trailer has thrilled the fans as its addition has been a hot topic among players for years. Catfood released a short preview of the classic map that is still under construction. The trailer gave a peek inside the location that ruled the Counter-Strike 1.6 arena for many years. While …
Signed Cloud9 jersey survives fire that burns everything else
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Fire swallows everything, and that’s precisely what happened when a furnace blew in a Cloud9 fan’s home. His apartment burned to ashes, but his signed Cloud9 jersey somehow escaped the havoc. Cloud9 has a loyal fanbase across the different games and divisions they field rosters in. But this fan of Cloud9’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team has stunned everyone after retrieving a slightly marred jersey from fire wreckage. Redditor Dacvid posted …
cogu exits MIBR, says he has a six-man roster ready
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
MIBR will see its coach and manager bid farewell to Raphael “cogu” Camargo. With cogu’s exit, MIBR is left with no coach and only two active players on its payroll. cogu assumed MIBR’s coach office in October when the organization was going through various adjustments. The Brazillian organization acquired cogu following the coaching controversy that saw Ricardo “dead” Sinigaglia suspended from the team. The coach had a new roster on …
Everything you need to know about changing FOV in CSGO
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
While most games have a field-of-view slider in the options menu, Counter-Strike Global Offensive takes a little more work for players to fiddle with its FOV. Modern first-person shooters typically let players change their field of view, but CSGO works a little differently. The game’s FOV is actually locked at 90 degrees, which is standard for most shooters, but there is a way to change CSGO’s player model FOV, which …
This is how to complete all of CSGO’s Steam achievements
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has four achievements that are impossible to get unless players know this handy trick. CSGO has a massive 167 different achievements for players to chase. Some ask little of players, like winning ten rounds for “Newb World Order.” Others can require 1,000 hours to complete, like inflicting 1,000,000 points of damage for the game’s famous “A Million Points of Blight.” That said, even those can be accomplished …
Reports say Cloud9 close to signing Xeppaa and coach Elmapuddy
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Several reports have claimed that Cloud9 is all but set to acquire Erick “Xeppaa” Bach to its active roster, while the discussions to sign Chris “Elmapuddy” Tebbit as the head coach are also underway. The reports of Xeppaa joining HenryG’s colossus first came from 1pvr. According to the website’s sources, the deal has nearly been sealed and the player will soon join the North American organization. If the move comes …
Here’s how to turn on Steam Guard and save your Steam account
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Using Steam Guard will protect your games, inventory, and Steam Wallet. Here’s why you should use it and the simple steps you need to follow to turn it on.Steam Guard is Valve’s version of a security feature known as two-factor authentication, a security feature that is all about keeping an account safe by asking for a randomly generated code after a user puts in their password. This extra step adds …
CSGO tops Among Us, wins Steam Awards’ “Labor of Love” award
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Valve’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive won a prize in the 2020 Steam Awards. The game has been dubbed the 2020 “Labor of Love” winner. CSGO was nominated in the category of “Labor of Love” alongside a mix of ongoing titles including Among Us, Terraria, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and No Man’s Sky. While other games in the category had the advantage of being fresh and popular among the audience, CSGO’s …
s1mple admits to sharing a VAC-banned account with friend
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive star Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev tweeted out that he unknowingly logged into a VAC-banned account when trying to play with friends. When trying to play CSGO’s matchmaking with his friends, Natus Vincere’s s1mple ran into a problem. Being a pro, all of his Steam accounts happen to be very highly ranked CSGO limits the difference between the ranks of players in a party so that highly-skilled players can’t …
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.
