Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
This DreamHack trailer might have teased a returning CSGO map
M Alzamora
The DreamHack Masters Winter trailer is impressive, but there was something that caught the eye of many viewers on Dust 2. The trailer for DreamHack Winter 2020 was a work of art, there’s no doubt about that. With beautiful animations to go with its soundtrack and voiceover, it’s an impressive piece of CSGO from Valve. But for all of the attention to detail given to the smallest parts of CSGO, …
Counter-Strike
Multiple North American orgs reportedly exiting Counter-Strike
Fariha Bhatti
New England Whalers has confirmed the release of its Counter Strike: Global Offensive roster and according to a report by DBLTAP, Chaos Esports Club might follow suit. Adding to what has already been a rough year for North American Counter-Strike, two organizations that have been steady presences are reportedly set to exit the game. The New England Whalers released the team citing the ongoing global health situation, while Chaos Esports …
Counter-Strike
Evil Geniuses pulls out of BLAST Showdown, Heroic to fill in
M Alzamora
Evil Geniuses announced that it would withdrawl from the BLAST Premier Showdown scheduled to start on November 24. EG revealed that its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team would not participate in the Showdown, BLAST’s version of a second chance qualifier for teams who failed to make the cut for its Fall finals. As the global condition worsens by the day, EG’s withdrawl makes plenty of sense from an organizational standpoint, much …
Counter-Strike
XSet’s female CSGO team wants to beat the best men’s teams
Fariha Bhatti
XSet has signed an all-female squad to mark their entry into the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive esports scene. The new lineup will wear XSet’s jerseys to compete against top-tier male teams. XSET enters the CSGO competitive scene with an all-female championship winning squad!????❌ @juliakiran❌ @mimimimichaela❌ @zAAzCSGO ❌ @kr4sy ❌ @PetraCSGOWatch the girls make their debut at the #DreamHack Dec. Open! ⚔️ #RepTheSet | JOIN US: https://t.co/O36uQ0dnyR pic.twitter.com/CnRjWWYsTe — XSET (@XSETGAMING) November …
Counter-Strike
tabseN stays atop CSGO rankings, but G2’s NiKo close behind
M Alzamora
WIN.gg’s rankings take into account every detail of a player’s performance, and Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz is the king of hidden statistics. At first glance, BIG’s top star sitting above names like Matthieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev might seem like a mistake. It’s not. tabseN is capable of blowing up on any given map, but that’s only half the story. In fact, it’s not the handful of 1.5+ ratings …
Counter-Strike
Astralis retains top spot in CSGO rankings, Heroic breaks out
M Alzamora
As IEM Beijing wraps up and DreamHack Open Winter approaches, CSGO’s rankings are seeing an impressive shakeup among the sport’s top teams. Astralis retained its top spot, but the Danish superteam slipped slightly in WIN’s rankings thanks to several key defeats. Losses to G2 Esports, Heroic, and Vitality had have eroded what was once a dominant position on the rankings, and those losses also had an effect on the teams …
Counter-Strike
Could karrigan be returning to FaZe Clan?
Fariha Bhatti
Nikola “NiKo” Kovač’s much-anticipated move to G2 had left the Faze Clan with an empty slot ahead of heaps of tournaments lined up. Fortunately, Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer was there to take the wheel. But it seems that he is not back to stay, as confirmed by teammate Marcelo “coldzera” David. Despite several lineup changes, Faze Clan’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive division is struggling to keep a permanent roster of five as the …
Counter-Strike
Here are all the ways you can download Source 2 right now
M Alzamora
Valve’s community is on fire about Source 2, and there are already a number of ways for users can tinker around with it if they know where to look. Source 2 is the next version of Valve’s Source engine, and it’s an upgrade in many ways according to those who have seen the full suite of tools. For everyday users to try their hand at Source 2 and the Hammer …
North CEO seemingly fired same day he suffers serious concussion
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
In an odd overlap of events, North CEO Christopher Håkonsson suffered a serious concussion in a cycling accident just before the team announced he would no longer head the Danish organization. A DBLTAP article from November 17 reported that North’s CEO was on sick leave and had stepped down. North’s chief marketing officer Alexander Pedersen has been promoted to “interim CEO” with no timeframe given by the team to find …
How to download and play YPRAC maps, the best aim maps in CSGO
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
With WIN.gg’s new guide to aim mapper YPRAC’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive training maps, players can practice almost everything they need to get better at CSGO. Getting better in CSGO is just like getting better at anything else, which means that consistently practicing CSGO’s aim and movement styles are the keys to winning rounds and ranking up in CSGO, and there are a ton of options for players to use to …
Sergej moves to ENCE’s bench due to lack of motivation
Fariha Bhatti
News
ENCE’s young gun Jere “sergej” Salo will be stepping down from the active roster due to lack of motivation when it comes to playing competitive Counter Strike: Global Offensive. The star rifler will join Jani “Aerial” Jussila on the bench, who recently went inactive due to medical concerns. ENCE has been going through a rough patch as of recent, and Sergej’s departure from the active lineup only adds insult to …
Dota 2’s CSGO mod is heading to Source 2 before the real thing
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Dota 2 mod Polystrike has joined forces with Garry’s Mod and Rust developers Facepunch Studios to bring the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive reimagining to Source 2. Dota 2 has been supported by the Source 2 engine ever since Dota 2 Reborn, but Polystrike will bring Source 2 to CSGO in its own special way. The mod’s developer announced on Twitter that PolyStrike, a Dota 2 mod that transforms the MOBA into …
CSGO hits 1 million player count again as new operation looms
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive hit one million concurrent players for the first time since hitting its all-time peak over seven months ago. On November 15, CSGO once again passed the million player mark and logged a total of 1,011,026 players online at once. Early numbers suggested that Valve’s competitive shooter had taken a hit during the closed beta for Valorant, Riot Game’s’ entry into the first-person shooter space, but CSGO has …
CSGO mapper FMPONE and Rust devs rave about Source 2 tools
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
The co-creator of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive map Cache has been raving about Source 2’s mapmaking tool since late October. There’s a ton going on in CSGO right now. Fans have enjoyed some impressive professional CSGO games over the past several weeks, with international competition resuming at esports events including IEM Beijing and FLASHPOINT 2. On top of that, CSGO players have also been glued to CSGO’s Twitter and official blog, …
CSGO devs working overtime as 10th operation rumors swirl
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
The Valve-only development version of CSGO recorded four developers online for just the fifth time ever since Steam Database started tracking the statistic in 2014. While the rest of the world waits for CSGO’s next operation, it looks as though developers put in some serious time behind the scenes this week. In fact, a closer look shows that Valve is doing something in CSGO, and has been for some times. …
mousesports adds new coach mithR in the middle of IEM Beijing
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
mousesports has officially signed Torbjørn “mithR” Nyborg away from Renegades’ Counter-Strike: Global Offensive squad to replace Allan “Rejin” Petersen. After Rejin’s removal from mousesports due to the Esports Integrity Commission’s report on the CSGO coaching exploit, mousesports has once again looked to Denmark for coaching. In a surprise transfer, both mousesports and Renegades announced the move from their respective Twitter accounts. mithR didn’t waste any time hopping into the role, …
These Mirage HE stack timings will level up your grenades
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s high-explosive grenades can turn the tide in the defender’s favor, so here are the best times and places to toss them to inflict maximum damage on Mirage. While the game’s molotovs and smokes are used often in CSGO’s matchmaking games, HE grenades are much more difficult to use correctly. But while these grenades rarely come with complicated lineups, they require defenders to know much more in-depth concepts. …
Evil Geniuses lose to hilarious P90 rush in IEM Beijing
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Rebirth’s IEM Beijing Online match against Evil Geniuses went predictably, but there was one round in particular that stuck out. Nuke is a tough map to crack. It was even harder for Rebirth, who found themselves trailing against Evil Geniuses. But Rebirth pulled out a strat so ridiculous in professional play that it almost had to work. Down 13-1 in the last round of the half, Rebirth took a page …
Courts rule for Valve over Jamppi as legal battle continues
M Alzamora
News
Elias “Jamppi” Olkkonen’s saga against Valve continues, with a Finnish Court essentially throwing out the case and ordering the ENCE player to pay Valve’s share of 44,650 euro in court fees, according to a report from Finnish news organization IS. The ENCE rifler had originally sued a company called Valve GmbH back in February, claiming that a VAC ban on an account that had once been owned by the player …
smooya apologizes on Twitter for his past toxic behavior
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pro Owen “smooya” Butterfield took to Twitter to apologize for his past behavior. “Made too many mistakes in my career outside of the game which has heavily messed with my career in the game,” smooya tweeted. He then apologized to those who “wanted the best” for him. Made too many mistakes in my career outside of the game which have heavily messed with my career in the …
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.
