Counter-Strike
News
GODSENT reportedly shopping CSGO roster amid pronax controversy
M Alzamora
A report claims that GODSENT plans to transfer its CSGO roster to an unknown team. The rumors come on the heels of an internal dispute between GODSENT co-founder Marcus “Pronax” Wallsten and the organization’s board of directors. Since the dispute began, little has been said about the organization’s improving Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team. Its current form in the ongoing DreamHack Open Fall 2020 tournament lends weight to the report, as …
Counter-Strike
Na`Vi’s CSGO struggles go way beyond Perfecto’s illness
M Alzamora
Natus Vincere may have made it to ESL Pro League’s Season 12 Finals, but Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s IEM New York is a different story. A stereotype that Na`Vi is inconsistent has existed for years, but it’s one that keeps coming back to bite them. While the trend has been around for the organization’s entire time in CSGO, stats show that since 2018, Natus Vincere can’t put together two great tournament …
Counter-Strike
Should Na`Vi bring back seized after his latest performances?
M Alzamora
Denis “seized” Kostin managed a little bit of payback against his former team at IEM New York Online, and it’s demonstrative of why his old team might want him back. IEM New York Online has been a trouble spot for teams across all three of its regional showdowns, but there’s one name that has reappeared on the scene after some time out of the spotlight. While organizations like Natus Vincere …
Counter-Strike
Has Valve messed up all of the AK-47 skins in CSGO?
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is famous for starting the skin economy popular in many of today’s games, but one CSGO workshop contributor claims that his skin was changed after he submitted it for review and that this change highlights a big problem with AK-47 skins throughout the game. A post on the game’s subreddit showed an image from the Steam Marketplace of the AK | Voltaic and compared it to how …
CSGO’s demo viewer’s new update is fantastic addition
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
With all of Counter-Strike: Globals Offensive’s small changes over the past several weeks, the update to the game’s demo viewer went unnoticed by the game’s player base. But after testing using all different types of demo files, the verdict is in. CSOG’s new and improved demo viewer is one of the best quality of life changes Valve has made to the game in years. Before breaking down the technical details …
Jkaem to join dennis in Apeks
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
The Norwegian organization Apeks has finalized the transfer of star rifler Joakim “jkaem” Myrbostad’s from 100 Thieves. Happy to announce that I have signed with @apeksgg ✍️Returning back home to compete for the best Norwegian team, and do everything I can to bring this team up to new heights made this very tempting! Excited for the upcoming months! https://t.co/eDKHTyAgoj — Apeks x jkaem (@jkaem) October 19, 2020 The reports of the …
CSGO players prefer FACEIT, not just due to high tickrate servers
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has a vast player base that keeps on expanding. 2020 saw the player count peak at 1 million, but not all of them prefer to play the game entirely on Valve’s terms. Third-party platform Faceit, has become the primary home of professional players. With 15 million registered users, Faceit has become a significant part of Counter-Strike and more players are moving to third-party providers by the day. …
Latest changes by Valve point to a big new CSGO update
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Valve’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive development team is putting in work, and it’s starting to show. Updates to CSGO over the past several days can’t confirm that another major operation is coming, but they paint a picture of a dedicated team working hard on something. It’s not just CSGO’s programmers either. In the past three weeks, Valve has made huge changes to how users’ game clients talk to each other. The …
Vitality adds Nivera, will run 6-man team b IEM Global Challenge
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Team Vitality has announced the acquisition of up-and-coming Belgian rifler Nabil “Nivera” Benrlitom. This will allow Vitality to join in on the hottest trend in pro Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and use a rotating six-man roster. A relative newcomer to the scene, Nivera is best known as the younger brother of retired CSGO star and current Valorant player Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom. Nivera spent the bulk of this year competing with Team …
LMBT unbanned by ESIC, calls Commission’s verdicts into question
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
The ESIC has reversed the ban of forZe head coach Sergey “lmbt” Bezhanov after two weeks when the coach complained that the ESIC hadn’t responded to his appeal. After tweeting that he felt ignored by the ESIC after appealing the ban, the ESIC replied, saying that they would contact him soon. It appeared that the ESIC wasn’t aware of the coach’s appeal until the tweet. lmbt and forZe said that …
Valve clamps down on China’s 128-tick 5E CSGO client with bans
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Valve is delivering VAC bans Chinese players who use the third-party client 5E thanks to the “special assistance” it offers to its premium members. 5E is China’s FACEIT, offering the country’s CSGO players with 128-tick servers and detailed post-match statistics. But unlike FACEIT, who parse each match demo and then return it to the player minutes later, 5E has essentially hacked its way into the CSGO client, claiming to have …
Cloud9 signs es3tag in a $2.1 million deal
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Cloud9 colossus has completed its active Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster with the addition of Patrick “es3tag” Hansen. Astralis took to Twitter to confirm the news of their rifler’s transfer to the North American team. Astralis and Cloud9 have agreed to a transfer of Patrick @es3tag Hansen from Astralis to @Cloud9. READ MORE: https://t.co/C9xp68MlD2 The transfer will be effective after DH Open Fall. Let’s finish this adventure in proper fashion. ????#ToTheStars …
BLAST Premier Fall moves to LAN as Team Liquid, 100 Thieves withdraw
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
After months of regional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive competition, BLAST Premier’s Fall Series will once again feature teams from around the world in a live, LAN setting. As Europe begins a return to live esports, BLAST Premier has announced that it won’t hold separate regional competitions for its signature tournament circuit but will host a LAN event featuring most of the world’s top teams. The return to a LAN environment comes …
Report says Astralis to send es3tag to Cloud9
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
A report from sport.tv2.dk says that Astralis plans to send Patrik “es3tag” Hansen to Cloud9 after DreamHack Open Fall in a move that could make C9 a powerhouse on any continent. The report comes days after Astralis’ wayward rifler Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth announced that he was returning to the Danish Counter-Strike powerhouse after nearly five months spent away from the team. Xyp9x is currently listed on Astralis’ official DreakHack Open …
Vitality reportedly expanding CSGO roster with Nivera
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Vitality is reportedly looking to acquire Nabil “Nivera” Benrlitom to their Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster. The French esports organization will be fielding a six-man roster with Nivera’s addition. Vitality has previously shown interest in procuring a sixth player for its roster to ensure its players’ health. The organization was actively searching for a player and had its eyes set on three players from Heretics. Several reports confirmed that Nivera, Nicolas …
DIGNITAS adds H4RR3 to CSGO roster ahead of fall tournaments
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
DIGNITAS has signed Nordavind rifler Haris “H4RR3” Hadzic to its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster, bringing the organization almost back to full strength. After the release of Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund and Richard “Xizt” Landström on September 16, fans have been anxious to find out who would step in to replace two of CSGO’s most famous veterans. Today, they have at least half of their answer. In a video posted to its …
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.
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