Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Broken Fang CSGO skin hit with DMCA claim, Valve investigating
M Alzamora
One of the skins included in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s Operation Broken Fang has been hit with a DCMA copyright claim. CSGO’s new operation came with over 40 new skins for players to collect, but one of them might end up changing. The Galil Vandal, originally named “Robber,” has been flagged for review by Valve for a potential copyright violation according to a warning on the skin’s original workshop entry. While …
Counter-Strike
Richard Lewis says cheats and throws rampant in CSGO pro scene
M Alzamora
A stunning report from veteran esports reporter Richard Lewis says more than half of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s top teams would have been barred from competition for cheating without the intervention of tournament organizers in an attempt to save face. The report comes just days after a strange ruling by CSGO’s self-proclaimed governing body, the Esports Integrity Commission, stated that it would give “a pass [to] coaches, players, and teams” it …
Counter-Strike
dev1ce has just reached some huge milestone at Astralis
M Alzamora
Astralis’ Nicholi “dev1ce” Reedtz crossed a major Counter-Strike: Global Offensive milestone last week when he reached and then passed one of CSGO’s most monumental pro player acheivements. dev1ce has now played over 1,000 maps since the team formally known as TSM went solo and named itself Astralis. dev1ce, considered by many fans to be one of the most deadly AWP users in the history of CSGO, reached the 1,000-map milestone …
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
G2 Esports benches Jackz as AmeNEk returns to CSGO roster
M Alzamora
G2 Esports is done with Audric “JaCkz” Jug after deciding to fill its fifth roster spot with François “AmaNEk” Delaunay. After G2 announced that it had signed Counter-Strike: Global Offensive star Nikola “niKo” Kovač in October, the top-10 CSGO team utilized a six-man roster. While it had switched JaCkz and AmaNEK in and out since niKo’s addition, G2 has decided to release JaCkz with no intention of bringing him back …
Counter-Strike
ESIC will not penalize CSGO cheating after long investigation
M Alzamora
The Esports Integrity Commission, funded by a conglomeration of well-know tournament organizers including ESL and BLAST, has decided to not take any official action against teams, players, and coaches implicated in this past summer’s stream sniping incidents. The response from the ESIC took months to be released, and did little but reiterate the already established rules that stream sniping isn’t allowed. In other words, so many teams were suspected or …
Counter-Strike
Here’s how to use and customize CSGO’s new ping system
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s new ping system shipped with Operation Broken Fang and it might be the most customizable ping menu in gaming today. Valve has created a total of 50 different options for players to map to CSGO’s three new ping menus. By default, the menus can be brought up by holding the user’s ping key and scrolled through using the scrollwheel. Expanded ping systems have become standard in today’s …
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 …
How to activate hard mode in Broken Fang’s co-op Autumn Harvest
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
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 …
CSGO Operation Broken Fang’s store, stars, and prices explained
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
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 …
Valve names Operation Broken Fang loadout after summit1g meme
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
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 …
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.
