Counter-Strike
News
CSGO hits another new record with well over one million players
M Alzamora
After breaking the one million player mark yesterday for this first time in the franchise’s 20-year history, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has done it once again this morning. After posting an all-time high early Saturday, CSGO smashed it’s record once again on March 15 with 1,024,845 concurrent players, all planting bombs and forgetting to buy defuse kits as one. While the record-breaking weekend may have something to do with the increasing …
Counter-Strike
Match predictions for Dignitas versus Orgless in Flashpoint S1
M Alzamora
Orgless will take on a reborn Dignitas and some of the most famous players in the world in what might be the most interesting matchup of Flashpoint’s opening weekend. Dignitas Dignitas doesn’t feel comfortable in North America if Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” is to be believed, but that doesn’t lessen the team’s status as a Flashpoint contender. The only thing is, GeT_RiGhT and company have a stand-in playing with them for the …
Counter-Strike
EPL will have NA and EU Champions and new groups in Season 11
M Alzamora
For the first time in history, ESL Pro League will have two league champions for Season 11. ESL has announced ESL Pro League has split into four groups in order to limit travel for participating Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams, meaning that both Europe and North America will have its own grand finals and respective champions. EPL has been split into four regional groups, according to an update posted to the …
Counter-Strike
Early predictions for the first week of new Flashpoint CSGO league
M Alzamora
With just two days to spare, Flashpoint secured its final two member teams ahead of the league’s opening games on Friday as we break down Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s first week of franchised play. Flashpoint got in under the wire, with organizations coming seemingly out of nowhere to take the two finals spots as FunPlus Phoenix picked up the entire Heroic roster. Group A contains two of FLASHPOINT’s founding member teams …
News
FunPlus Phoenix to enter Flashpoint league with Heroic roster
Olivia Richman
The upcoming Flashpoint league has been accumulating a lot of hype in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive community. The organization-owned league has also been getting a lot of attention from pros CSGO teams. Now it seems to have drawn in FunPlus Phoenix. FPX is a Chinese organization that have mostly made a name for themselves in the League of Legends scene. Against all odds, they became the Worlds champions last year, solidifying …
Counter-Strike
MonteCristo dives into Flashpoint plans, PR, dispute with ESL
M Alzamora
Christopher “MonteCristo” Mykles recently appeared on a special episode of esports journalist Richard Lewis’ podcast to talk about Flashpoint and the ESL Pro League, and why he thinks that Flashpoint will come out on top. Richard Lewis welcomed Monte to a special interview with the esports veteran last week to talk about his role in Flashpoint, North America’s new project in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and what kind of role he …
Counter-Strike
Australian CSGO teams combine for 8 overtimes in ESL regional
M Alzamora
Yesterday’s ESL Australia & New Zealand Championship semifinal between Chiefs and Rooster was a suppoesd to be a typical a best-of-three. And while the match ended 2-0, the teams ended up playing way more Counter-Strike than anyone expected. After defeating Rooster on its own map pick, fellow Australian team Chiefs moved the series to Mirage. The Chiefs were slightly behind at halftime, trailing Rooster by an 8-7 scoreline. After a …
Counter-Strike
hallzerk visa will take “several weeks,” GuardiaN fills for Dignitas
M Alzamora
Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovács is set to stand in for Dignitas AWPer Håkon “hallzerk” Fjærli for the start of the Flashpoint League, according to a tweet from the team’s official Twitter account. According to the tweet, GuardiaN will fill in for hallzerk as a stopgap measure. Flashpoint’s official tournament starts on March 13, just three days before the start of ESL Pro League’s Season 11. Director of Fan Engagement at Dignitas Heather “sapphiRe” …
T1 signs Swag to Valorant team immediately after CSGO retirement
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
International League of Legends powerhouse T1 has signed Braxton “swag” Pierce as the first member of its new Valorant roster. In a tweet from both swag and the official Twitter account of T1, the organization announced that it has signed the famous Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player to its entry team in Valorant. The game is Riot Game’s first title in the first-person shooting space, and the initial reviews have been …
Fnatic, Complexity headline a stacked ESL Rio European Minor
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
The European invitees to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s first Minor of the year are all set. Fans now know which teams will represent their region at ESL One Rio’s Minors starting on April 26. There were surprises in most of this weekend’s regional competition at their respective Minor qualifiers, but the European Minor in particular, will undoubtedly see some fan favorites fail to qualify for 2020’s first Major tournament. The possibility of …
Valorant to use unique anti-cheat, new Vanguard system to fight hacks
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Cheaters are an unfortunately normal part of the online gaming experience. Whether it’s map hackers or aim bots, people find ways to get an unfair advantage over the competition and it’s the game’s publishers who are the ones tasked with combating this. Riot Games’ Valorant will have very different concerns on this front than its first title, League of Legends. With that in mind, the company is working on its …
Renegades staff leaves, cites problematic CEO as takeover looms
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
According to multiple sources, the mass resignations from Renegades on March 6 were due in large part to the behaviors of Renegades CEO Chris Roumayeh, including a perceived lack of leadership and alleged abuse directed towards some of those who resigned. When NBA player Jonas Jerebko jointly purchased RNG in 2016 with his financial advisor Chris Roumayeh, it was Roumayeh that was actually to serve as the organization’s CEO and …
ESL One Rio CSGO Major format, prize pool, and favorites to win
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s majors are the most prestigious tournaments of the year and the next, the ESL One Rio Major, is just around the corner. Over the course of two months, a series of open and closed qualifiers whittle down hundreds of hopeful teams to 32 competitors for the minors. From there, 10 of those teams get a chance to compete on CSGO’s grandest stage. Outside the competitive sphere, CSGO …
US Navy holding CSGO tryouts in partnership with Evil Geniuses
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
The United States Navy is hoping to enage with the gaming community through a new esports campaign launched by the Navy Recruiting Command. One part of the campaign involves the Navy partnering with North American esports organizations. Teams like Evil Geniuses will help the Navy put together a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team by holding tryouts for sailors. Later in the year, the Navy will reveal its new CSGO team at …
xQc says “washed up CSGO pros” won’t be good at Valorant
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
Overwatch streamer Félix “xQc” Lengyel had some heavy criticism for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pros who see Valorant as a competitive opportunity. Ever since Riot Games announced that Project A is actually Valorant, a FPS heavily inspired by CSGO’s weapons and structure blended with Overwatch’s abilities and teamwork aspects, various esports pros have expressed interest in playing the game competitively. This includes CSGO pro Braxton “swag” Pierce, who told his fans he …
Here are some of the esports events hit by the coronavirus outbreak
gabhernandez
Counter-Strike
The fast spreading COVID-19, commonly known as the coronavirus, has been the world’s biggest story of 2020 so far. It has also been a frequent part of the esports news cycle. The disease first became prevalent in Wuhan, China, and has spread to over 50 countries since. The virus is highly contagious and carries a high mortality rate, which is estimated to be 3.4% by the World Health Organization. Various …
ATK sprayxD: “Everyone believes we can make it to the Major”
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
WIN.gg sat down with ATK’s Gareth “MisteM” Ries and new head coach Daniel “sprayxd” Kogan ahead of their opening match of ESL One Rio’s Middle East closed Minor qualifiers. In-game leader MisteM dishes on Tyson “TenZ” Ngo and sprayxD explains what the team has its eye on heading into the tournament. How did you and ATK build this roster, and how did you land on Tyson “TenZ” Ngo as your …
How CSGO’s M4A4 Griffin almost became the next contraband Howl
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Everyone has heard of the M4A4 Howl, one of only two items in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive that has ever claimed the rare Contraband quality, but most don’t know a second M4A4 skin almost became the Howl 2.0. In 2014, a design was uploaded to the Steam Workshop for an M4A4 weapon skin by a team of two artists. The design was slick and unique, two traits appreciated by Counter-Strike’s players. …
Team Envy revealed as 7th founding member of Flashpoint, 3 more remain
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Team Envy has announced that it is a part of North American franchised Counter-Strike: Global Offensive league Flashpoint. Team Envy joins Cloud9, MiBR, Gen.G, MAD Lions, Dignitas, and c0ntact Gaming as founding members of Flashpoint. As with these teams, Envy is a partial owner of the league and is a part of its revenue-sharing program. The league’s debut season is slated to kick off in May. “We’re excited about the future …
One key smoke on every map that all CSGO players need to know
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
There are few things more important than utility when it comes to winning a game of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. There’s nothing worse than getting only silence in return when you ask your matchmaking team if anyone knows any smokes. The problem can be even worse when third-party platforms offer better servers than Valve’s at attractive rates for free players and subscribers. There, the hardcore Counter-Strike Community meets the casual, and …
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.
