Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
DIGNITAS adds H4RR3 to CSGO roster ahead of fall tournaments
M Alzamora
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
100 Thieves set to leave CSGO
Fariha Bhatti
According to a report from HLTV, 100 Thieves will release their Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster after the reported departure of Justin “jks” Savage. The North American organization has yet to make a formal announcement about the teams’ future. CEO Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag’s 100 Thieves acquired its current roster from Renegades twelve months ago. During their tenure in 100 Thieves, the quintet has failed to deliver any noticeable performance. Their subpar …
News
Nawwk returns to NiP’s active roster after extended medical leave
M Alzamora
Ninjas in Pyjamas AWPer Tim “nawwk” Jonasson is back in the starting lineup after taking a month-long break. Nawkk asked the team for a break on September 15 in the middle of ESL Pro League Season 12, forcing NiP to field its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive head coach Björn “THREAT” Pers. THREAT did his best to support NiP, but went 45/92 over two series and was outclassed by NiP’s opponents. With …
Counter-Strike
ESIC fails to respond to forZe coach LMBT’s ban appeal
M Alzamora
forZe coach Sergey “LMBT” Bezhanov tweeted out that the Esports Integrity Commission hadn’t responded to his appeals before it competed in the IEM Beijing Haidian 2020 open qualifiers. LMBT took to social media and let loose his frustration with the commission, saying that he hadn’t received a reply despite sending several appeals. The forZe coach’s ban stemmed from the release of the ESIC’s report on the CSGO coaching exploit. The …
A new CSGO operation may be coming after new code changes
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s new operations have traditionally arrived after Valve cleans its code, and someone on the CSGO development team is doing just that right now. Before adding new things, Valve has a habit of cleaning up what’s old. Normally, changes to CSGO’s non-English languages are something the CSGO team does regularly. Every update contains several of these, many contributed by community members who send translations of item descriptions and …
Astralis chairman tried to create a new competitor to CSGO
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Nikolaj Nyholm, former Astralis CEO and current Astralis Group chairman, had planned to raise funds in order to create an esports-ready competitive shooter title, according to a source close to the situation. Registered in late September, the original venture was named Scattershot Ltd. before the sudden withdraw of Nyholm’s partner, CS 1.6 creator Minh Le left the planned fundraising venture while the programmer finishes development on Plan 8, the next …
ESL and DreamHack will continue to work with CSGO CSPPA on tournament conditions
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
ESL and DreamHack have merged, but the Counter-Strike Professional Players’ Association wants to let everyone know that it is still in the process of making more plans. The announcement came from the CSPPA’s official Twitter account, but the agreements that the document contained are almost carbon copies of those included with the organizations’ original reveal back before the CSGO tournament season was forced online. The main difference is a reduction …
Complexity is reportedly set to acquire 100 Thieves’ jks
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Complexity Gaming is reportedly looking to acquire 100 thieves’ star player Justin “jks” Savage. The 24-year-old would be filling in the slot left vacant by Owen “oBo” Schlatter. The North American organization is set to obtain jks in its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive lineup, according to DBLTAP. jks is currently an active member of 100 Thieves roster, although a better offer might have convinced him to switch teams. jks and company …
What’s next for oSee and ex-Cloud9 players after losing floppy?
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
As Cloud9 announced that Ricky “floppy” Kemery had signed with Cloud9, the rest of C9’s CSGO roster is moving out to make room for the new. C9 general manager Henry “HenryG” Greer is probably just as surprised as some fans are. During a September interview, AWPer Josh “oSee” Ohm said that he and floppy had been extended invitations to C9 roster, one it planned on taking international with a newly …
s0m leaves Gen.G, retires from CSGO to join NRG Valorant roster
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Sam “s0m” Oh has announced his retirement from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to make a fresh start in new tactical shooter Valorant. The 18-year-old rifler will be following in the footsteps of his former in-game leader, Damian “daps” Steele. NRG took to twitter to announce s0m’s arrival to their Valorant division that is still in its embryonic stage with only two members on its roster so far. With s0m’s addition, the …
This Counter-Strike mod is the true origin behind Among Us
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
A mod based on Counter-Strike was the original Among Us, even if it has been largely fogotten since. Murder mysteries aren’t new, but their appearance in popular games and streaming is. With Twitch streamers lying and scheming their way out of certain doom, the newly popularized game Among Us has found new life through the streaming community. But despite the game’s reputation as being unique, there was one CS mod …
Cloud9 confirms floppy’s CSGO signing was worth big money
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Cloud9 has almost finished its roster with the addition of Ricky “floppy” Kemery in a deal C9’s general manager Henry Greer said was worth more than $430,000. Floppy is the only player that has survived a Cloud9 rebuild that started when the team announced that it would release the organization’s current roster after a mere eight months. The South African esports team ATK agreed to a roster transfer with Cloud9 …
mousesports releases Rejin after admission to CSGO cheating
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
mousesports announced that it has released head coach Allan “Rejin” Petersen after his involvement in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s coaching exploit scandal. Rejin was one of 37 coaches who received punishments handed down by the Esports Integrity Coalition after it investigated reports that CSGO coaches had exploited a flaw in CSGO’s spectator code. The exploit gave coaches free reign over a CSGO server by allowing them to spectate any spot on …
Xyp9x returns to Astralis practices, return date announced
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Clutch minister Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth will be returning to the active roster of Astralis after a four-month hiatus. The 25-year old has already begun practicing to rejoin the competitive scene soon. Xyp9x and team took to Twitter to announce their delight over the comeback of the star player. Despite dusting off is mouse and keyboard, Astralis’ roster for DreamHack Open Fall 2020 has already been registered and Xyp9x will not …
NRG signs ImAPet and daps, s0m signing uncertain
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
It’s been confirmed that NRG Esports was actually pursuing ex-Gen.G in-game leader Damien “daps” Steele and 100 Thieves head coach Chet “ImAPet” Singh. NRG announced two members of its debut Valorant roster in a tweet from the organization’s official Twitter account. The move confirms reports that the organization was interested in the CSGO veterans. Those rumors also linked Gen.G’s Sam “s0m” Oh to the organization’s plans, but neither s0m nor …
CS 1.6 creator Minh Le creates new company with Astralis owner
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Update 10/10/20: Minh Le clarified his postion with SCATTERSHOT Ltd. in a quote provided to WIN.gg. “I once discussed the opportunity to work as a technical adviser for a new FPS esports shooter with Nikolaj [Nyholm]. However, it was a misconception that I thought I could do it while still maintaining my position at Pearl Abyss. The bottom line is that I’ve been working at Pearl Abyss and will continue …
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.
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
