Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Explaining why a higher DPI is better for first-person shooters
M Alzamora
It turns out that top of the line mice have DPI options that go all the way into the thousands for a reason. For years, gamers have copied their siblings, friends, and pro players as a starting point for customizing their own mouse settings, but it turns out that many gamers may have have been playing with one hand almost tied behind their back. A vast majority of players are …
Counter-Strike
Windigo receives WESG 2018 prize money after a year of waiting
Olivia Richman
After a year of back and forth, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team Windigo has finally received its prize from the WESG 2018 Finals. Windigo’s founder and owner, Artur Yermolayev, told HLTV that the team’s share of the $500,000 prize pool had been wired to the players. He also told the CSGO site that he was happy the matter had finally been settled. This is a long-time coming for Windigo, who was …
Counter-Strike
Top Korean CSGO team MVP PK shuts down to focus on Valorant
Steven Rondina
Team MVP, the organization behind Counter-Strike: Global Offensive squad MVP PK, is withdrawing from the tactical shooter. The Korean brand announced that it will instead focus its efforts on Riot Games’ new title, Valorant. The news was first reported by Fomos. MVP has been a constant presence in Asia’s competitive CSGO scene since 2015, with the formation of the MVP Project Team. MVP formed a second team, MVP PK, in …
Counter-Strike
ESL Road to Rio EU: Fnatic versus Vitality betting analysis
M Alzamora
Despite being the number-one ranked team in the world, Fnatic sits just inside the playoff picture for ESL’s Road to Rio. Right below them in the number four spot of group A is Team Vitality, tied in the standings with Fnatic at 4-2 but with a -8 round differential holding them below the Swedes in the standings. This matchup is incredibly important in terms of standings going into CSGO’s Summer …
Counter-Strike
FaZe Clan versus Mousesports: ESL Road to Rio Betting Analysis
M Alzamora
Only a year ago, this would have been an easy game to call. Mousesports would have been coming off an April where they started off as the 45th best team in the world. Finn “Karrigan” Andersen had just joined, and a showdown between FaZe and mouz would’ve been an easy slaughter for FaZe. Today, however, is a much different story. Mousesports has turned into a contender and a dangerous team …
Counter-Strike
Hunden retires, moves to new coaching role at Heroic
M Alzamora
Nicolai “HUNDEN” Petersen has announced that he has retired from professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive as a player, and will transition into a coaching role with Heroic. The vetrab player spent the his last months of active playing with the newly-formed MAD Lions squad before being replaced as the team’s in-game leader by Asger “AcilioN” Larsen. HUNDEN took his removal from the team he had helped lead to FLASHPOINT 1, asking …
Counter-Strike
ESL and DreamHack sign massive streaming deal with Twitch
M Alzamora
In a departure from its typical stance on multi-year deals, streaming platform Twitch has entered into a three-year partnership with ESL and sister company DreamHack to become the sole provider of the companies’ English-language esports broadcasts. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed at the time of the announcement. This marks the second time ESL has sold the english streaming rights to its events since 2018, first doing …
Counter-Strike
Figuring out when CSGO’s next operation is coming
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s ninth event, Operation Shattered Web, landed with a bang last November and was a major factor that helped catapult CSGO to its first million-player day. Shattered Web was Counter-Strike’s first battle pass, and where there’s one season pass, more tend to follow. CSGO’s internal configurations refer to a seasonal pass, and Shattered Web’s mission files are structured to make it easy for Valve to create one over …
Orgless disbands, yay blames CSGO leagues and Valorant
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
North American Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team Orgless has announced that they will cease competing in Valve’s first-person shooter. The team was currently involved in ESL’s Road to Rio competition to determine the new attendees at November’s CSGO Major. ESL made the announcement in a tweet from their official Twitter account. Team “Orgless” have decided to not compete in the rest of the #ESLOne Road to Rio and have disbanded.As #ESLOne …
Ninjas in Pyjamas runs over f0rest, Dignitas in ESL One Road to Rio
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Dignitas made waves earlier this year by returning to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and reuniting the Ninjas in Pyjamas roster that won the 2014 ESL One Cologne Major. The squad led by the legendary duo of Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund and Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg faced their old team for the first time in the Road to Rio: Europe group stage. It did not go well for them. Dignitas received a swift 2-0 …
Fnatic is once again ranked as the world number one CSGO team
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
For the first time in over four years, Fnatic is ranked as the best Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team in the world. In the recent HLTV world rankings, Fnatic moved from number two to number one, dethroning Natus Vincere for the top spot. The honor comes after almost nine months of increasingly strong play that saw Fnatic evolve their style and add new members to it roster while retaining veterens. Still …
Explaining tick rates in FPS games: Difference between 64 and 128 tick
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
With Valorant’s announcement that the new first-person shooter would feature 128 tick servers, now is the best time to refresh players on exactly what exactly tick rate has to do with their favorite games. While its not essential knownledge, every single multiplayer game has what is called a tick rate. That alone makes the concept important for players to understand. The more a player knows about the mechanics and technical …
Hundreds banned from FACEIT after CSGO audio exploit discovered
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
After Polish YouTuber “Mefju23” shared a video outlining an audio exploit in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, hundreds of players were permanently banned from FACEIT. Mefju23’s video showed off an audio exploit where players were able to increase the sounds of footsteps, weapon drops and other vital audio cues, making it much easier to know where opponents were at any given time. The file, called “Soundmixers.txt” changes certain parameters to give users …
This B rush on Vertigo is pretty much unstoppable for CTs
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Recent changes to Vertigo have given the map a completely different feel, as many of the advantages that the attacking players relied on are now gone. The mid window, long relied on for late flanks to the B bombsite, is now gone and replaced by an elevated platform that gives defenders rule over mid. Although the perch is easily mollied, it provides a strong postion when coupled with a lean …
Thorin and Montecristo on the future of Flashpoint, Cloud9, FPX, more
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
With Flashpoint’s inaugural season wrapped up, WIN.gg sat down with the league’s creative director Duncan “Thorin” Shields as well as broadcaster and talent advisor Christopher “MonteCristo” Mykles to discuss what went right and what went wrong. The two covered the wild ride that was the league’s first season and the league’s future. WIN.gg: Flashpoint 1 is in the books. How does it feel? Thorin: Satisfying. The only problem with expectations …
Astralis loses to Fnatic after some huge mistakes in Road to Rio EU
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Astralis is among the best Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams in the world. At their absolute worst, they’re still very close to the top. They do still make mistakes, though. Astralis went 1-1 in the first week of the Road to Rio: Europe group stage, beating Complexity Gaming while dropping a series to Fnatic. Though Fnatic is typically crisp, the series between Astralis and Fnatic turned on a few apparent misplays …
ESL Road to Rio: Team Liquid vs MIBR betting analysis
M Alzamora
News
Let’s not mince words. If MIBR shows up to their Road to Rio matchup against Team Liquid the same way they’ve shown up against any team in their previous series in the event, they’ll lose. At this level of competition, MIBR cannot reliably compete. Instead, let’s take a look at Team Liquid and what the Americans can do against the battered MIBR. Under coach Eric “Adren” Hoag, Team Liquid has …
ESL Road to Rio NA: Cloud9 vs Orgless Betting Analysis
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
After a poor opening day for both teams, Cloud9 and Orgless will take to the online stage in both team’s second matchup of ESL’s Road to Rio Regional qualifier. Cloud9 suffered a 2-1 upset loss to Triumph, while Orgless lost a rough 2-0 to Evil Geniuses. Both of these teams are on the low end of the spectrum to make it to one of the five spots Valve has alotted …
HenryG hints at Valve bringing 128 tick servers to CSGO soon
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
CSGO caster and analyst Henry “HenryG” Greer raised eyebrows during ESL One’s Road to Rio qualifier, saying that his cohost Alex “Machine” Richardson might not have to learn two sets of smokes anymore. After Astralis took down Complexity 2-1 at the European Regional Major Rating tournmant nicknamed Road to Rio, HenryG, Machine, and Chad “spunj” Birchhill discussed Machine’s experience with 128 tick servers. Machine admitted that the servers were nice, …
CSGO and Team Fortress 2 source code leaks with big implications
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
The source code for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Team Fortress 2 has been leaked online, posing a huge issue for Valve and the communities of both games. Valve News Network’s Tyler McvVickers was originally blamed for the leak by 4chan, but McVicker is adamant that he did not leak the code, but he knows who did. On a Q&A Twitch stream, McVicker explained that the code was provided to him …
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.
