Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Team Liquid, Fnatic take ESL Pro League Season 11 championships
M Alzamora
ESL Pro League Season 11 crowned two champions. Fnatic defeated mousesports to hoist the EPL trophy in the European region, while Team Liquid overcame Evil Geniuses in a quick, two-map series. After thrashing mousesports once before in Season 11, Fnatic fought hard to come out on top of a back-and-forth series. On match point, mousesports let its lead slip away, robbing the team of the chance to become two-time ESL …
Counter-Strike
Mousesports and Fnatic even in EPL Season 11 finals, bookies say
M Alzamora
Mousesports pulled off a surprising win in the ESL Pro League Season 11 semifinals, taking down an Astralis team that pummeled them just a match prior. Just a single match removed from an awful 2-0 loss against the Danish powerhouse, mouz’s in-game leader Finn “karrigan” Andersen took Astralis to their limits in a three-map romp. But they can’t afford to celebrate for long. A rested and dangerous Fnatic team waits for them …
Counter-Strike
New mod Polystrike released, combines Counter-Strike and Dota 2
Steven Rondina
Looking for more Counter-Strike: Global Offensive when you play Dota 2? Or maybe you want a bit more of a retro gaming experience when playing Counter-Strike? Polystrike has that covered. The Dota 2 mod is officially in open beta, giving fans to try out the game mode that captured the attention of both esports titles. Polystrike is an interesting take on Dota 2 and Counter-Strike, transforming the game into a …
Counter-Strike
Astralis is the big favorite in EPL semi after trouncing mouz
M Alzamora
After an up and down season, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s Astralis finally found their form against mousesports. During the last game before the ESL Pro League’s season 11 playoffs, Astralis delivered a dominant 2-0 win against mouz, who only managed four rounds total over two maps against the number one team in the world. When all was said and done, it was the less mentioned players on Astralis, such as Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander …
Counter-Strike
JW’s knife kills vs FaZe prove that knives aren’t always worth it
M Alzamora
There are few things that are as satisfying as a knife kill in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. In a game filled with gunplay, it’s rare to get close enough to use CSGO’s decorative knives, so players rarely pass up the opportunity to literally stick it to their enemies. Professional players are no different. During Fnatic’s showdown against FaZe Clan on April 5, Jesper “JW” Wecksell managed to slip past the lone …
Counter-Strike
shroud says Valorant is easier than CSGO, and here’s why
Olivia Richman
More and more streamers are weighing in on Valorant days before the closed beta becomes available to the gaming public. Former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pro Mike “Shroud” Grzesiek is the latest content creator to voice his opinion on Riot’s new FPS title. He said that the game is easier to play than CSGO, and it’s mostly due to the simplified map. “The time to kill is one-to-one with CS. It just …
Counter-Strike
ImAPet cites tarik, stanislaw, “hypocrisy” as reasons to leave EG
M Alzamora
Evil Geniuses has released head coach Chet “ImAPet” Singh after almost seven months with the team. The famous North American organization returned to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in September 2019 when they purchased NRG’s CSGO roster outright following its success at the StarLadder Berlin Major. From the beginning of his tenure with NRG to his release on April 3, Singh spent nearly two years with the roster. During his time with EG, Singh …
Counter-Strike
Fortnite pro says competitive CSGO is better because players enjoy it
M Alzamora
During an episode of the Fortnite podcast Hotline FN, pro Fortnite player Bumpaah gave a frustrated take on the current Fortnite competitive scene while claiming that the passion fans of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’ have for their game is what competitive Fortnite is missing. During a discussion surrounding Fortnite, its viewer base, and pro players dropping out of the game’s competitive scene, Bumpaah blamed the slowing of Epic Game’s battle royale …
Did Riot Games copy CSGO’s weapon spray patterns for Valorant?
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Riot’s new first-person shooter might have borrowed more than just its general concept from the granddaddy of competitive shooters. Valorant, the developing FPS from League of Legends developer Riot Games, got its live reveal during a Twitch Rivals event as esports pros and personalities took part in some friendly competition. During the reveal, there was a consistent theme by the casters. “Like in Counter-Strike” was a phrase anyone watching Rivals …
Everything to know about Acid Etched, CSGO’s hot new weapon skin
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
With the release of the Prisma 2 case, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive got another skin that can drop with a rare pattern. The P2000 | Acid Etched joins the Glock | Moonrise as the second default pistol to feature a rare pattern. The Acid Etched joins with a pearl-coated shamrock and some awesome color combinations. Prisma 2 first released on April 1 loaded to the brim with pretty skins, most of …
ESL One Rio will require teams to requalify for November CSGO major
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Valve has announced the procedure for teams to requalify for the ESL One Rio Major. Rio was rescheduled following the worldwide outbreak of the COVID-19, and will now take place in November. A post on the official Counter-Strike blog outlined how teams will earn a spot in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s ultimate competition. According to the post every team will have to requalify, even those that would normally have been ushered …
AVANGAR disbands shortly after selling CSGO team to Virtus.pro
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
AVANGAR has revealed through its official Twitter account that the esports organization would cease all operations. This was relayed through several messages saying goodbye to the organization’s fans and followers, with a promise of promoting esports interests in Kazakhstan in the future. The move comes several months after the organization sold its previous Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster to Virtus.pro for a hefty price. AVANGAR famously made the grand finals at …
New CSGO update adds Prisma 2 case, new maps Anubis and Chlorine
M Alzamora
News
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s Operation Shattered Web has ended, but fans still have something to grind for. The latest CSGO update introduces the Prisma 2 case, filled with 17 new skins for a variety of weapons. The update also shipped with some map changes. Both Breach and Studio have been retired while Chlorine and Anubis take their place. The two new maps come from the Mapcore community contest. Both maps are …
CSGO breaks new records as players crash the CSGO item sever
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
While Counter-Strike: Global offensive quietly listed over 1.31 million actives, players were much more concerned with one thing: “Do I have the Agent I want?” Prices skyrocketed as fans realized that Counter-Strike’s batch of agents might actually be collectibles instead of trading cards. In fact, Counter-Strike hasn’t seen anything quite like this before. Previously, each operation came with a single case that would drop from players’ weekly rank ups. Shattered …
PUBG Mobile keeps stealing weapon skins from CSGO
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive fans are not happy with a new weapon skin in PUBG Mobile. Developers recently introduced an M16A4 skin called Psycho Savage, which is almost an exact copy of CSGO’s AK47 skin, Neon Revolution. The only notable differences are the white stripes PUBG added on top of the original design. Everything else is disturblingly similar. While this latest skin has definitely riled the CSGO community up, it’s apparently …
Steam sets new player records for the second week in a row
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Valve’s Steam platform has continued its run of form, breaking its record for concurrent users for the fourth time in four weeks. The software developer and digital distributor surpassed its previous record by more than 300,000 people, set the day before on March 28.The immensely popular storefront seemed unphased by the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s battle royale mode as it plowed through previous record with ease. Steam …
Great first knives for players looking to enter CSGO’s skin game
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Alongside its competitive esports scene, Counter-Strike’s player-driven economy is the beating heart of the game’s mass appeal. While it will always be a game rife with tactical depth to its hardcore fans, Counter-Strike will never shake the idea that its competitive matches are a place to show off a player’s flashiest skins. At the top of CSGO’s loot list are its infamous knives. Uncommon in the lower ranks, knives serve …
Valve’s patience and Perfect World’s marketing fuel CSGO records
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
On March 22, CSGO reached another milestone on its way up the charts, totaling 1,102,067 players in-game and breaking its previous record set just earlier that day by almost 15 thousand. So why is this happening now? Eight full years after release, CSGO hit the million concurrent player mark for the first time on March 14. The first-person shooter has continued to gain players since. Even more exciting for Valve …
CSGO’s Nvidia commit fix confirms CSGO moving to Source 2 engine
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
After Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s beta branch went live with a fix for the stuttering that has plagued Nvidia users for several weeks, Valve pushed the update to CSOG’s live branch. When released, we thought Half-Life Alyx’s commemorative pins looked better than anything we’d seen before graphically. Looks like our eyes weren’t playing tricks on us. It turns out that the pins, stickers, and patches CSGO released alongside Alyx’s debut this …
Banned CSGO player Jamppi files lawsuit against Valve
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
One of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s youngest players is fighting back against Valve over the company’s decision to ban him from the game’s Major tournaments. Finnish AWPer Elias “Jamppi” Olkkonen is suing Valve for undisclosed damages in a Finnish court over due to a VAC ban the company says can be connected to Jamppi. In December, Jamppi was on the shortlist of young players set to join Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen, Nathan …
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.
