Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
CSGO dev says trusted accounts see few cheaters, players disagree
M Alzamora
A conversation between CSGO developer John McDonald and a twitter user revealed that Valve has stats that say trusted accounts very rarely see cheaters. But CSGO players don’t seem to agree. In a Twitter thread, McDonald quoted some statistics from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive that said that highly-trusted accounts see a confirmed cheater in only one game out of every 40, meaning that those accounts face a cheater in matchmaking about …
Counter-Strike
A closer look at CSGO’s Broken Fang Case skins
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s Operation Broken Fang comes with a brand new case, and here are the impressive skins in all their glory. CSGO’s new operation has put a huge number of skins into users’ virtual hands, but the in-game viewer doesn’t do justice for how impressive these skins are. From the humble military-spec CZ-75 Vendetta all the way to the third Neo-Noir skin stylishly applied to the Glock-18, Broken Fang’s …
Counter-Strike
BIG to play IEM Global Challenge in place of Chaos, NA teams
Fariha Bhatti
North American organization Chaos Esports has confirmed the withdrawal of its Counter Strike: Global Offensive roster after a final sprint in 2020. And due to ongoing travel restrictions, German CSGO team BIG will be replacing Chaos esports in IEM Global Challenge. ESL had first sought other North American teams to replace Chaos. But with a lack of NA teams that both can travel and are of appropriate quality, German CSGO …
Counter-Strike
Every Ancient skin from CSGO’s new Operation Broken Fang
M Alzamora
Valve borrowed heavily from previous skin cases for Operation Broken Fang’s new collections, and we’ve got them all here in high-resolution. Spend a little bit of time looking through Broken Fang’s Case collections and players might start to notice a theme. A carbon-fiber skin here or an Aztec look-alike there, and players might think that Valve simply edited older skin textures to apply them to different weapons. In some instances, …
Counter-Strike
CSGO Rio Major reportedly delayed again, until late 2021
M Alzamora
Valve has reportedly postponed the next Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major until at least November 2021. According to an email obtained by HTLV, Valve has scrapped plans for a CSGO major until the second half of 2021. While plans had been in place to hold the first CSGO Major in over a year in early 2020, the email details the developer’s plans to delay the next major tournament by at least …
Counter-Strike
How to activate hard mode in Broken Fang’s co-op Autumn Harvest
M Alzamora
In each one of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s cooperative Strike Missions, players can enable a hard mode modifier for the mission. Broken Fang keeps that tradition alive. One of the best parts of CSGO’s operations is the cooperative strike mode that allow players a break from the game’s competitive origins and pit a team of two players against bots in a special mission. Players are scored based on how long it …
Counter-Strike
CSGO Operation Broken Fang’s store, stars, and prices explained
M Alzamora
CSGO’s Operation Broken Fang seems similar to Shattered Web at first glance, but players will soon realize they have many more options when it comes to getting the loot they want. Broken Fang’s store is made for players who know what they want. It’s filled with new Agents, three new collections exlusive to Broken Fang, a Broken Fang Operations case, two new sticker collections, a new grafitti collection, and a …
Counter-Strike
Valve names Operation Broken Fang loadout after summit1g meme
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s Operation Broken Fang is a refreshing addition to the game. Major additions include new maps, agents, and skins, but a small detail in the loadout card called “1G” has grabbed the attention of many CSGO players. New Operation Broken Fang has various updates that have elated fans, but a meme reference was the last thing anyone was expecting. In addition to bright-hued skins and maps that evoke …
New CSGO operation Broken Fang is the biggest one yet
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
After more than a year of waiting and months of teasing, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s Operation Broken Fang has arrived. CSGO’s newest operation comes with a batch of new features, including live stats tracking, four new skin collections, a brand new in-game ping system, and a whole host of features that CSGO players have begged for over the years. The operation comes with live map picks and bans prior to each …
MIBR fined by FLASHPOINT for stream sniping in match against OG
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
MIBR was fined $10,000 for having its match against OG visible by players during the game, according to an official announcement by FLASHPOINT. Although FLASHPOINT made it clear that it’s livestream is on a considerable delay, FP and its board of governors decided to impose the fine and called the action “a breach of competitive integrity.” The announcement went on to say that all teams have been informed that the …
Alex leads Cloud9’s CSGO resurgence at DreamHack Masters
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Cloud9’s matchups against ENCE at DreamHack Masters Winter showed off that in-game leader Alex “Alex” McMeekin has been defying convention as the team’s shotcaller. IGL’ing in CSGO usually comes with a serious dip in form. These players not only have to make the calls and organize the strategies that win their team’s games, but they have to do so in the middle of rounds as well. Some players have been …
Chaos confirms that it will drop CSGO and Rainbow 6 teams
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
After a week of rumors, Chaos Esports Club has announced that it will no longer field rosters in either Counter-Strike: Global Offensive or Rainbow 6: Siege, according to an announcement from the organization’s official blog. The blog cited the current travel restrictions as one of its main reasons for dropping the squads, as well as effects on the organization’s ability to attract sponsors to the teams. Instead, Chaos says that …
Vitality players surge forward in latest CSGO player rankings
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Ranking Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players is much tougher than ranking a team’s performances, but two of Team Vitality’s members have shown up time and time again and in doing so have impressed our algorithm. Both Dan “apEX” Madesclaire and Cédric “RpK” Guipouy made CSGO’s top players list after several phenomenal performances over the past two weeks. Both players have been fixtures in CSGO’s professional scene for years and have had …
FURIA and Team Liquid make push into top 10 CSGO ranking
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s top teams haven’t shuffled much since the middle of November, but Evil Geniuses’ move back to North America has left room for other teams to break into the rankings. The top three teams in Astralis, BIG Clan, and Natus Vincere retained their spots in the rankings, but FURIA made a big jump to the sixth place spot while Team Heroic fell off sharply after losses at IEM …
Watch s1mple score three knife kills in a row on stream
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Natus Vincere might not have much to do until they face FURIA on December 15, but star player Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev sure is keeping busy. Breaking up his usual routine of pugging Counter-Strike: Global Offensive games on its defusal maps, s1mple took a holiday over to famed hostage map Office. For s1mple, the objective was make his opponents look silly. In the span of a single killing spree, s1mple managed …
Sprout benches snatchie and dycha ahead of 2021 season
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
German Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team Sprout has announced the benching of Polish duo Paweł “dycha” Dycha and Fritz “slaxz” from the active roster. Both players have been placed on the transfer list as sources report Sprout will return to a full-German CSGO squad heading into next year. Jarek “DeKay” Lewis also reported that the team is eyeing ALTERNATE aTTaX duo Marko “kressy” Đorđević and Fritz “slaxz” Dietrich as possible replacements. …
This ridiculous Overpass boost could change your next game
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Overpass has a long history of crazy boosts, and players are still finding new ones nearly eight years after its release. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s Overpass has seen more boosts than players care to count, and it isn’t slowing down anytime soon. It’s only been six months since players found an overpowered three-man stack in CT spawn, but Triumph pulled out all the stops just to get a free shot at …
Valve has removed Fnatic KRIMZ’s VAC ban, Esportal blamed
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Counter Strike: Global Offensive professional Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson has confirmed that he’s once again free to play CSGO after a short VAC ban was rendered by Valve. Fnatic’s ace rifler was mysteriously banned a few days ago, with many speculating that ban was due to third-party platform Esportal. Im free mfs ???????? — Freddy Johansson (@Krimz) December 1, 2020 Fnatic’s Krimz was handed a ban during an apparent Esportal ban …
Hackers stealing CSGO skins through iOS vulnerability, Steam API
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Most serious skin collectors and players have thier Steam account protected by two-factor authentication, but it turns out that having the securty feature on Steam isn’t enough. The hijacking of two high-profile accounts in the past year show that a user’s inventory isn’t always as secure as they think it to be. On November 28, professional CSGO player Paytyn “Junior” Johnson woke up to find that almost his entire inventory …
Fnatic’s KRIMZ receives VAC ban before Flashpoint 2 match
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Fnatic Counter-Strike: Global Offensive star and two-time major winner Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson revealed that his Steam account was VAC banned, but it is unclear what this ban stems from. The player’s accomplished history in CSGO and the extra anti-cheat methods used by most tournament organizers suggests means there is little chance that KRIMZ has been aimbotting his way through recent tournaments. Valve Anti-Cheat used to be one of the most …
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.
