Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
FACEIT looking to fix North American CSGO with new FPL Cup events
M Alzamora
FACEIT is overhauling its long-running FPL program by introducing team qualifications and cash prizes to the system. The third-party tournament organizer announced a complete rework of its FPL circuit, a division of its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive services that offer the opportunity for growing players to gain experience by playing with professionals. Instead of qualifiying individually for FPL as they did before, players will now qualify as a team and compete …
Counter-Strike
Daps out at Gen.G, will finish with team at ESL Pro League
M Alzamora
Damian “daps” Steele will no longer lead Gen.G’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive squad, according to a post from the in-game leader on his official Twitter account. The tweet was accompanied by a Twitlonger that pinned daps’ departure on a mixture of CSGO burnout as well as disagreement inside the squad over the direction of the team. Moving on from Gen.Ghttps://t.co/O7dG3eJ2y7Will still finish out EPL with the team until they find a …
Counter-Strike
This CSGO pistol guide has everything you need to know
M Alzamora
Pistols in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive can be a mystery. We’re here to help you solve it. CSGO’s pistols have spawned countless memes and headaches, but they’ve also made for some of the most impressive highlights the game has ever seen. Everyone clearly remembers when Nikola “niKo” Kovač dominated FaZe Clan on Cache with just a lone Deagle. A walkthrough showing off each pistol’s strengths, weaknesses, and limitations can help everyday …
Counter-Strike
ENCE suspends Twista for using CSGO coaching bug exploit
gabhernandez
Finnish coach Slaava “Twista” Räsänen has been suspended by ENCE until further notice, following his confessing to exploiting the infamous coaching bug. Slaava admitted to using the bug in 2017 during his time at iGame.com. ENCE announced the news of his suspension in a press release and further clarified that Slaava has never used the exploit during his tenure with the Finnish organization. Slaava joined ENCE as the head coach …
Cloud9 signs Vitality’s ALEX to massive $1.6 million deal
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Cloud9 has announced the first official signing of its latest rebuild. The massive deal saw them steal ex-Team Vitality in-game leader Alex “ALEX” McMeekin to a massive deal. The move was officially revealed this morning when ALEX appeared on 1PV’s livestream wearing a Cloud9 jersey to go along with a tweet from the North American org that revealed the exact details of ALEX’s three-year contract. Cloud9 Unleash the Colossus ☄????Player: …
ALEX bids farewell to Vitality, hints at his next team
gabhernandez
Counter-Strike
Alex “ALEX” McMeekin, who has been warming the Team Vitality bench for quite some time, has finally decided to take his leave. The 24 year old, now-former in-game leader took to Twitter to confirm his departure from Vitality. ALEX joined Vitality in December 2018 and took over the position of IGL, replacing Vincent “Happy” Schopenhauer. During his short tenure, he helped to win the French team plenty of titles and …
Ukraine has now recognized esports as an official sport
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
Esports is now considered an official sport in Ukraine. The country’s Commission for the Recognition of Sports of the Ukrainian Ministry for Youth and Sports announced that esports is officially a sport. In the government’s press release, the Ukrainian Esports Federation (UESF) and the Ukrainian Professional Cybersport Association (UPEA) had lobbied for esports to be recognized, with the UESF submitting documents to the Ministry. “I am very happy that we …
Valve finally speaks on coaches caught cheating with exploit
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
After nearly two weeks of admissions from teams and coaches that they used a long-running exploit to gain advantages in competitive matches, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive developer Valve has finally commented on the scandal. In an announcement that came alongside the developer’s decision to cancel the ESL One Rio Major, Valve also handed down penalties to teams who had been caught abusing a spectator bug to view enemy teams. The list …
ESL cancels Rio Major, reveals IEM Global Challenge plans
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Valve and ESL have announced that the ESL One Rio Major has officially been cancelled. The event was previously scheduled for November 2020. The announcement comes after months of speculation that ESL Rio would not take place due to the ongoing global situation which has caused extreme travel restrictions to and from Brazil and other countries around the world. ESL finished its announcement by stating that, as of now, there …
missharvey calls out Valve for not supporting competitive CSGO
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive veteran Stephanie “missharvey” Harvey was not afraid of calling out Valve in a recent column where she discussed the game’s competitive scene. In a column for Dexerto, missharvey said she was worried for CSGO’s future due to the first-person shooter’s lack of fresh material. For that, she blames the game’s developers, Valve, who she feel don’t properly “cherish” their players or “strive to make the scene better.” …
CSPPA still has FalleN and MIBR ranked in top 10 despite slump
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
The Counter-Strike Professional Players’ Association’s rankings need some serious work, especially when it comes to MIBR’s place in them. Rankings are found across all sports, whether it’s a top ten list of League of Legends mid laners or the best teams in the National Football League. But rankings in CSGO are more meaningful. They determine which teams get invited to some of the worlds biggest tournaments, which teams have to …
Stewie2K rants on CSGO match fixing as investigations continue
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
Team Liquid Counter-Strike: Global Offensive veteran Jake “Stewie2K” Yip has been quite vocal about match fixing taking place in the Mountain Dew League. The Mountain Dew League was once known as the top competition for tier-two CSGO teams looking to get their names on the map. But recently, the MDL has been in the spotlight for something very different than its promising talent. On September 3, the Esports Integrity Commission …
HenryG takes on GM role for Cloud9 CSGO team, done casting
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Cloud9 has brought on Henry “HenryG” Greer as its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive general manager while also adding former 100 Thieves coach Aleksandar “Kassad” Trifunovic as the team’s new head coach. Cloud9 announced the signings of HenryG and Kassad on September 7, setting off the North American team’s rebuild that was reported just the day before. The move comes mere days after HenryG announced his retirement as a CSGO commentator following …
Cloud9 looks for new CSGO roster, plans to drop current team
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Cloud9 is once again going to hit the reset button on its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive division. The organization posted a video to YouTube on Sunday featuring members of its current roster stating that Cloud9 plans to pivot towards a different roster in the future. Though it was explicitly stated that Cloud9 plans to stay in CSGO, the current roster is likely to be transferred to another organization or dissolved entirely. …
mousesports suspends coach Rejin over cheating with coaching bug
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
mousesports coach Allan “Rejin” Petersen has been suspended for using a coaching bug while working for previous organizations. The organization tweeted that Rejin had admitted to “knowing and using” the bug while with Tricked. While they couldn’t find proof that Rejin used the coaching bug while on mousesports, they still decided to suspend him until the investigation has concluded. “None of our players nor staff were aware of the past …
Former NiP coach Pita admits to cheating with spectator bug
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
Ninjas in Pyjamas’ former head coach, Faruk Pita, has revealed that he used the coach spectating bug in 2018 during ESL Pro League Season 8 Europe. Earlier this week, a coaching bug issue was reported by esports referee Michael Slowinski. With help from IT expert Steve Dudenhoeffer, Slowinski had three coaches banned for exploting the coaching bug. This includes Ricardo “dead” Sinigaglia from MIBR and Heroic’s Nicolai “HUNDEN” Petersen. 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.
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
