Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
ALEX reportedly targeted to lead FunPlus Phoenix CSGO roster
M Alzamora
Reports indicate that Alex “ALEX” McMeekin is at the top of the list to lead FunPlus Phoenix’s CSGO roster. After a rough entrance into Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s competitive scene, FPX is reportedly looking at former Vitality in-game leader ALEX to lead its return to CSGO, according to a report from DBLTab. FPX was at the center of a controversy during FLASHPOINT 1 when it attempted to acquire Danish CSGO team …
Counter-Strike
CSGO devs claim to have fixed a new report botting exploit
M Alzamora
CSGO developer John McDonald tweeted out that the game’s development team had fixed CSGO’s report botting issues highlighted in a recent video. A recent video by CSGO YouTuber Sparkles highlighted the ability to manipulate CSGO’s Overwatch mechanic to not only cause innocent players to receive bans, but to also protect their own accounts from being banned by the service. Just several days after the video’s release, CSGO developers have said …
Counter-Strike
CSGO wall hack bug still present in game after latest patch
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players were disappointed to find out that yesterday’s patch still hadn’t fixed a potentially game-breaking wall hack bug. For the past week, CSGO players have been exploiting a wall hack discovered by YouTuber “Sparkles” on August 12. Similar to a previous wall hack bug, players can boot up the game without activating the first-person shooter’s vpk files. CSGO players can create their own custom vpk files to …
Counter-Strike
These CSGO players just broke the gun range world record
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s gun range world record has been broken, twice. Two players beat the record time on CSGO’s training range within hours of one another, posting their times on the game’s subreddit. CSGO’s gun range serves as a training level for new players to get accustomed to the game’s novel recoil and movement systems. The first player to break the record clocked in at an even 20 seconds while …
s1mple shows off a cool new bench boost for Mirage’s B site
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
It’s sometimes hard to take aggressive positions on Mirage, but Natus Vincere’s Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev showed off a neat boost that serves as an easy way to get an early heads up on a Mirage B rush. The boost that s1mple shows off here is a clever way to get eyes into the B site apartments without the defending CTs taking up any of the usual positions. But there are …
Valve used Overwatch to train machines to combat CSGO cheating
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
A Counter-Strike: Global Offensive developer has explained just how CSGO’s Overwatch, Trust Factor, and VAC all work together. We just have to go back to the 2018 Game Developers Conference in order to hear about it. In 2018, CSGO developer John McDonald took the stage at the Game Developers Conference for a presentation titled “Using Deep Learning to Combat Cheating in CSGO.” The presentation gave an in-depth explanation of the …
Lekr0 set to join North as Kjaerbye replacement, report says
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Jonas “Lekr0” Olofsson is set to join the North esports organization, according to reports. A report places Lekro in the North lineup with an official announcement coming in the following days, according to HLTV.com. Lekro’s move to North comes just a week after former North star Markus “Kjaerbye” Kjærbye announced that he would join FaZe Clan’s international lineup. Lekr0 has sat the Ninjas in Pyjamas bench since May of 2020 …
100 Thieves coach ImAPet thinks CSGO badly needs new maps
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
100 Thieves head coach Chet “ImAPet” Singh has a problem with CSGO’s map rotation. In a post on Twitter, ImAPet critiqued Valve’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive map choices, calling them “not exciting,” while suggesting that Valve remove Mirage, Overpass, and Train from the current rotation. We need 3 new maps in CSGO in the rotation, the current pool isn’t exciting anymore — 100T Chet Singh (@chetsingh) August 14, 2020 CSGO currently …
This programmer is trolling CSGO cheaters in hilarious ways
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s cheating problem has driven vigilante programmers into baiting hackers with fake cheats, often to hilarious effect. With CSGO’s serious increase in VAC bans, fans know there’s been some real work done by Valve to combat the game’s cheating problem. But the first-person shooter’s cheating issue has turned into a community issue. It isn’t just Valve who’s doing the work anymore, as a few programmers have taken it …
CSGO’s next operation should steal Valorant’s Spike Rush
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
While Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s recent Shattered Web operation didn’t come bundled with any limited-time game modes, the shooter’s next operation should copy Valorant game mode Spike Rush wholesale. CSGO is a notoriously difficult game to get into and learn for new players. The game’s tutorial is lacking, and the difference between Counter-Strike’s casual game mode and its competitive mode are too many to list. While there aren’t any item builds …
DIGNITAS vs. Budapest 5 Eden Arena: Malta Vibes betting analysis
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
DIGNITAS has had a rough go of it this summer, and it’s completely possible that their streak of poor performances continues against Budapest 5. B5 hasn’t been playing particularly well either, but bettors looking for lines that could pay off solely on the name recognition of the losing team ought to take a good look at this one. Don’t be fooled by the names on the DIGNITAS roster. Comprised of …
Stats show dev1ce and dupreeh carry Astralis while Magisk slumps
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
The loss of Astralis’ in-game leader and its best clutch player hasn’t dampened Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz’s incredibly consistent CSGO prowess. But the same can’t be said for some of his teammates. Ever since their time together at Team SoloMid, Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen and dev1ce have been each other’s wingmen. Fans who are familiar enough with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s micro plays can catch the small details and see the fingerprints of …
BLAST announces end of partnership with NEOM after criticism
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
After weeks of silence and sustained pushback from fans and professional talent alike, BLAST owner RFRSH Entertainment has announced the end of its partnership with NEOM. The news was announced in an internal meeting with the tournament organizer, which was obtained by HLTV. No further details on the call were reported, but this follows a number of esports teams and casters criticizing the partnership on social media. The BLAST x …
You might already have these three expensive CSGO skins
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Flashy patterns in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive skins are nothing new, but some common skins can be worth much more if players are lucky enough to find one with the right pattern. Most CSGO players know about the different patterns on the Slaughter knives or what it means to have a full fade bayonet, but there are a few rare patterns on common weapon skins to turn a skin normally worth …
Shroud returns to Twitch streaming after Mixer’s demise
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Michael “shroud” Grzesiek is coming home to the streaming platform that kickstarted his career as an entertainer, according to a post from the streamer’s official Twitter account. After leaving fans in the dark for nearly a month following the closure of Mixer, Shroud announced his return to Twitch alongside the sort of well-produced video that his fans have come to know him for. I’m coming homehttps://t.co/0nsby7MTHi pic.twitter.com/6qO2E4m4jy — Michael Grzesiek …
gAuLeS apologizes to Chaos and leaf, not everyone believes him
Steven Rondina
News
Several weeks after the fact, Alexandre “gAuLeS” Borba is finally apologizing to Chaos Esports Club. The Brazilian caster took to Reddit to state that he was wrong in leveling accusations of cheating against the North American squad. His apology follows increased pressure to apologize from tournament organizers. He also apologized during a live stream. “It was not my intention to inspire anger or actions that affected another person negatively. I …
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
