Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Flashpoint announces global LAN qualifiers, dates, and teams
M Alzamora
Flashpoint released the group draws for its Global LAN qualifiers yesterday, but declined to provide an official press release. Instead, the league confirmed a report published by HLTV. The North American league’s closed qualifiers, named the Global LAN Qualifiers, will feature two groups of four teams that won their spots in the open qualifiers earlier this month. In total, two out of the eight teams will join Flashpoint’s ten franchised …
Counter-Strike
Aleksib’s revenge complete as OG passes ENCE in world rankings
M Alzamora
With OG’s top-notch performance in BLAST Premier’s group C and ENCE’s catastrophic failure at DreamHack Anaheim, ENCE is probably regretting their decision to let the young in-game leader go. OG is maturing, and quickly. While Aleksib is young, he’s clearly able to mold the players around him into a cohesive force. That trait is special, and there were flashes of Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko’s fire in him during BLAST. Somehow, the 22-year-old …
Counter-Strike
CSGO patch changes Danger Zone meta, updates Trust Factor
M Alzamora
In a followup to Monday’s big patch, Valve has released another update for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive last night that made some small changes that could have a big impact. Valve made changes to Danger Zone and CSGO’s matchmaking trust factor while adding in two new options for reporting players and the buy menu. There was only one gameplay change in Tuesday’s patch. Valve has added the chance for late-game paradrops …
Counter-Strike
CSGO files leak official team and player patches, autograph sprays
M Alzamora
Depending on who you talk to, the big news from Monday night’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive patch was either the crosshair generator or the new Panorama buy menu. But there were two other big additions that slid by in the chaos. The surprise patch came ten days after Valve released an update that tidied up the developer’s shooter internally. While no new content was added, Valve had clearly taken the time …
Counter-Strike
Gen.G, FURIA face off for spot in DreamHack Masters Jonkoping
M Alzamora
Gen.G and FURIA have advanced to the grand finals of DreamHack Open Anaheim 2020. Gen.G took down North 2-0 in the first of Sunday’s matches, while FURIA defeated Complexity in a reverse sweep to book their own ticket to the grand final. Anaheim was full of storylines going in. Will Endpoint pick up a single map? Will MiBR finally take home a tournament win after a brutally long drought? And …
Counter-Strike
k0nfig on FURIA: “They’re just another Brazilian team to take down”
M Alzamora
Complexity Gaming has looked strong at DreamHack Open Anaheim. The team bested MiBR in both a best of one and a best of three series, with its sole loss coming at the hands of Gen.G. That 2-1 record secured Complexity a spot in the playoffs here in Anaheim. The solid outing continues what has been a strong upswing for the enduring North American organization. A major part of that growth …
Counter-Strike
Endpoint revives British CSGO with massive upset over forZe
M Alzamora
Endpoint and forZe weren’t messing around at DreamHack Open Anaheim. The two teams took a showdown on Vertigo to quadruple overtime. Endpoint eventually took the map with a 28-26 victory. In the closest match of the event thus far, the two teams were even in nearly every category. Regulation saw each half split 8-7 and the teams were even through three overtime periods. After Vertigo, forZe clapped back and forced …
Counter-Strike
Flashpoint open qualifiers closed to teams outside select regions
M Alzamora
Flashpoint may have championed offering a chance to everyone, but recent tests and two sources inside a South China team say that the qualifiers were not quite as open as they were purported to be. According to tests performed by WIN.gg, Flashpoint’s qualifiers were never open to teams outside the regions of North America, Europe, and South America. In addition, tournament rules stated that participating teams must have at least …
ESL Pro League Season 11 headed to Denver after ownership change
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Denver will host the ESL Pro League Season 11 Finals later this year, according to an official press release from the company. The news comes just a day after Astralis and 12 other teams revealed that they were now part owners of the long-running league. More information on that ground-breaking shift can be found here. Starting on March 16, season 11 of the EPL will showcase 24 teams in a …
Counter-Strike’s Shattered Web walkthrough for Week 14
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Week 14 of Shattered Web sees a few general missions, but Demolition is the weekly rotation for the first time this season, and the week’s Guardian mission offers an actual challenge. Almost exactly as they were data mined to be last week, here are the week 14 challenges for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s Operation Shattered Week as the operation draws to a close. You Only Live Twice: Get 8 round wins …
Europe’s ESL Rio closed Minor qualifier will be a bloodbath
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
If there’s one thing that fans can count on, its that the European closed qualifiers for ESL One Rio’s upcoming minor is going to be a long and grueling affair. But it’s also going to be absolutely amazing to watch. Unlike the other regions, almost every team in Europe’s closed qualifiers are close in skill or have the potential to upset. Fans should thank their lucky stars that Valve hasn’t …
Astralis and 12 other teams become part owners of ESL Pro League
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Astralis and twelve other top Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams announced this morning that they have become majority stakeholders in the ESL Pro League. In an official press release, Astralis revealed that it and the twelve other teams had signed an agreement with ESL just under a month before the start of the league on March 16. The move is a major move in the Counter-Strike ecosystem, as ESL now holds …
Cloud9, Gen.G headline NA ESL Rio Minor Closed Qualifiers
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
The ESL One Rio open qualifiers are finally finished after half a month of streams, matches, technical pauses, and timeouts. Thankfully, today was the final day. CSGO fans finally know which teams will compete for the limited slots available for Rio’s upcoming minors. The Americas have a grand total of eight slots allocated to the region, with six going to North American teams and two reserved for South America. The …
You can get a real advantage by customizing your viewmodel in CSGO
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
The internet is full of guides claiming that they have the “best viewmodel” for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. In reality, the best viewmodel settings for CSGO are entirely up to each individual player, even though there are some safe ideas that users should generally stick too. The worst thing a player can do is take someone else’s viewmodel settings wholesale. While players can move their viewmodel just about anywhere, that doesn’t …
Coronavirus strikes CSGO, Tyloo replaces ViCi at IEM Katowice
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
ViCi Gaming will miss the upcoming IEM Katowice tournament due to visa issues, but these are far from the normal travel problems normally tied to esports. One of ViCi Gaming’s players had his visa appointment canceled due to the widespread quarantines across China due to the spread of the virus that has killed over 1,500 people. ViCi Gaming declined to name the player that was affected by the cancellation, but …
Concept art highlights the strong links between Half-Life and CSGO
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
As the release of Half-Life: Alyx nears, old Counter-Strike: Global Offensive files highlight just how closely the two universes are connected and give a fun look at just how the two influential games are tied to one another. Images uploaded in early 2016 show prototype models for two unused Counter-Terrorist factions, the KSK and the Georgian Police force. They’re labeled as early concept art for Valve’s multiplayer shooter, but they …
SMASH upset Complexity, seal ESL Rio closed qualifier spot
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
In a surprise result, SMASH Esports defeated Complexity Gaming today in the open qualifiers for the upcoming ESL One Rio Minor qualifier. SMASH punched way above their weight class, winning 2-1 against a Complexity team that has been unstoppable in recent weeks. While Complexity shocked the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene earlier this month by crushing Astralis 2-0 at the BLAST Premier Spring Series, they were on the receiving end today. …
Iconic CSGO map Dust 2 gets a new remake in Fortnite
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Counter-Strike
Iconic CSGO map Dust 2 is coming to Fortnite. Fans of first-person shooter games were excited to find out one of the most popular maps from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is coming to Fortnite’s creative mode. Digital marketing brand Team Evolve, which focuses on designing custom content for the battle royale, has a Dust 2 game mode soon to be available for fans to try out in Fortnite. Dust 2 was …
Former Fnatic coach Jumpy finds new home, joins North
Nina Forneloza
Counter-Strike
Danish Counter-Strike: Global Offensive organization North has brought in Jimmy “Jumpy” Berndtsson as its new head coach. Jumpy will replace outgoing coach Torbjørn “mithR” Nyborg, who has coached North for the past year. In a statement on the North website, Jumpy stated he is excited by the potential within the team: “I’m super excited about the opportunity to come and coach a team like North. With the amount of inherent …
FLASHPOINT restarts EU qualifier, had banned tech pauses
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
FACEIT has issued a statement regarding the restarting of the second FLASHPOINT European open qualifier and its lack of technical pauses, amending its rules to ensure that teams have a fair chance to compete. Trouble started when Engin “MAJ3R” Küpeli and Turkey5 played seven rounds without one of their players in FLASHPOINT’s European qualifiers due to a technical issue. Unfortunately for Turkey5, FACEIT had disabled the ability to use technical pauses for the event. …
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.
