Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Steam sets new player records for the second week in a row
M Alzamora
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 …
Counter-Strike
Great first knives for players looking to enter CSGO’s skin game
M Alzamora
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 …
Counter-Strike
Valve’s patience and Perfect World’s marketing fuel CSGO records
M Alzamora
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 …
Counter-Strike
CSGO’s Nvidia commit fix confirms CSGO moving to Source 2 engine
M Alzamora
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 …
China has a CSGO store that puts the rest of the world to shame
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Valve’s traditionally hands-off approach to its games means that it can be really hard for fans to get their hands on good merchandise, especially for Valve’s sometimes underappreciated first-person shooter, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. If you live in China, though, you’re in luck. CSGO’s Chinese publisher Perfect World has nailed the game’s aesthetic with their merchandise. There is a little overlap between the Valve-outsourced store available elsewhere and Perfect World’s cohesive …
FalleN asks fans to stay home as president calls virus a “trick”
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo asked fans to stay inside last night after Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro called the rapid spread of the coronavirus a “trick” and a “fantasy.” FalleN pleaded with his Brazilian fans, telling them that they risked infecting others if they didn’t stay inside. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro addressed his nation on the evening of March 24, saying that he “wouldn’t feel anything” if he caught the virus while …
Fallen is really establishing himself as Godfather of Counter-Strike
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo is known as Brazil’s “Godfather of Counter-Strike,” and for good reason. He’s spent the past 16 years growing the scene in Brazil, and he’s recently made it even easier for Brazilian fans to get involved in competitive esports. FalleN revealed the revamped Fallen.gg, offering Brazilian esports fans the opportunity to purchase gear from well-known brands like Razer and HyperX. This can help South American gamers find peripherals …
Someone just made a working game of chess in CSGO
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Reddit user Imania is a prolific creator, bending the Source Engine to his will over the years making more than 80 maps and mods for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. In his latest creation, he has decided to bring one of the world’s oldest popular games to one of its newest. Imania has ported such games as UNO, Connect 4, and Golf It! to Counter-Strike, but this time they decided to stay …
CSGO gets new patch with stickers, pins for Half-Life Alyx release
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive got its first patch in eighteen days, bringing with it three new opportunities to roll the dice in the form of a patch pack, sticker capsule, and pin capsule to commemorate the release of Half-Life Alyx. The update also added an exclusive pin and music kit for anyone who had preordered Valve’s VR hardware, the Index. The patch, sticker, and pin capsules are all available now in …
ESL One Rio Major moved to November, will have $2 million prize pool
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Valve and ESL have announced that the ESL One Rio Major has been moved to November. ESL sent out a press release confirming the news. The release cited COVID-19 as the reason for the move. According to the release, ESL will host ESL One Rio in the timeslot reserved for CSGO’s second major of the year, and that the two Majors have effectively combined their prize pools. ESL One Rio …
Astralis signs es3tag, plans to compete with 6-man CSGO roster
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Danish Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team Astralis announced an agreement this morning between itself and Team Heroic to acquire Patrick “es3tag” Hansen. Astralis announced the deal early this morning through an official press release. While the signing itself is impactful in and of itself, Astralis positioned the move as a transition from a five-player roster to a six-player roster. At its most basic, the Astralis organization now has an official, permanent stand-in that …
Astralis looking to sign new player, and it could shake up all of CSGO
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
FunPlus Phoenix has reportedly had enough of Heroic and that could carry huge consequences for the entire Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene. According to reports from both HLTV and 1pv.fr, Astralis has been courting Heroic’s Patrick “es3tag” Hansen for some time in an effort to build a six-man CSGO roster. Some found it odd that FunPlus Phoenix decided to reveal their entrance into CSGO close to a week after it was already …
MIBR returns to ESL Pro League, Flashpoint exclusivity uncertain
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
During an ESL Pro League Season 11 matchup between Natus Vincere and forZe, host Tres “stunna” Saranthus announced that MIBR will join group C along with Team Liquid, 100 Thieves, Swole Patrol, Evil Geniuses, and FURIA. An official announcement came on Twitter as MIBR informed its fans of the decision to compete in ESL was made so the team could have a chance to qualify for ESL One Cologne 2020. …
smooya’s abrupt departure from Chaos raises big questions
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
A Twitlonger from Chaos Esports Club AWPer Owen “smooya” Butterfield revealed that he will miss the remainder of Chaos’ Flashpoint matches in its debut spring season, as well as any additional tournament during that time. In his explanation, smooya disclosed that he was in the United States on an ESTA visa waiver instead of the traditional P1 Athlete’s visa or a work visa sponsored by Chaos. As smooya returned to …
Team Vitality’s newest member goes 0-18 in ESL Pro League game
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Team Vitality may be off to a decent start in the ESL Pro League Season 11’s European division. But that isn’t the case for newly added player Kévin “misutaaa” Rabier. After winning its first two series of the group stage, Vitality faced off against Team Spirit. After picking up a win on Inferno, misutaaa laid a goose egg on Dust 2. The player went 0-18 on the map, failing to pick …
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
