Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Cloud9, Gen.G headline NA ESL Rio Minor Closed Qualifiers
M Alzamora
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 …
Counter-Strike
You can get a real advantage by customizing your viewmodel in CSGO
M Alzamora
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 …
Counter-Strike
Coronavirus strikes CSGO, Tyloo replaces ViCi at IEM Katowice
M Alzamora
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 …
Counter-Strike
Concept art highlights the strong links between Half-Life and CSGO
M Alzamora
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 …
Counter-Strike
FLASHPOINT restarts EU qualifier, had banned tech pauses
M Alzamora
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
Leaks reveal last 3 weeks of Operation Shattered Web missions
M Alzamora
There are some interesting tidbits buried deep inside the code for Counter-Strike Global Offensive. Some are small, like how CSGO’s volume settings reset after equipping a Music Kit. Some are bigger, like the names and objectives for the next two weeks of Operation Shattered Web. Barring sudden changes from Valve, CSGO players can plot out how they want to tackle the final three weeks of Operation Shattered Web. Starting with …
Counter-Strike
Shattered Web Week 13 brings big explosions and shields to CSGO
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s Week 13 may be best used as a distraction from work, cleaning the kitchen, or finishing up some errands. It’s a laundry list of tasks to be crossed off. Instead of breaking away from the past weeks’ “kill things” challenges by making increasing the chance for clever tactics, Valve has opted for the “grind it out” route. WTB Earplugs: Get 5 kills with the Negev In Casual: …
Counter-Strike
Week 13 Guardian Missions have shields, point to de_dust return
M Alzamora
As Operation Shattered Web winds down, some fans were wondered when Valve was going to kick it up a notch since SB wasn’t the content hog that Hydra was. Well, we’ve got good news. This week is going to be kind of crazy. While looking through the configuration files for Week 13, WIN.gg uncovered several details, including one that might mean the return of one of Counter-Strike’s classic maps. First, …
Net graph explained: How to measure CSGO FPS, ping, loss, and more
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
High FPS in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is an important thing for players to shoot for and can give them an edge in almost every fight. The net graph command included in CSGO is the best way to measure your ping, but it also shows a lot more than just that. CSGO’s net graph is by far the best way for players to measure their in-game FPS. It’s even better than …
ESL Katowice groups are headlined by Astralis, Liquid, mouz, EG
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
ESL has released the official groups for IEM Katowice, including the first and second-day matchups between the participating teams. The groups are likely going to be an absolute bloodbath. Group A consists of the following teams: Astralis Cloud9 Ninjas in Pyjamas Natus Vincere FaXe Clan Renegades Fnatic Group B will prove equally strong, especially with mousesports leading the charge in recent weeks: mousesports Vici Gaming 100 Thieves G2 Esports Team …
This is how to check if people you played with in CSGO have VAC bans
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Almost every player has run into a cheater in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, whether they know it or not. The problem is so widespread that Valve’s anti-cheat routinely bans thousands of players each day. With cheats for CSGO so widespread, there’s an easy way to check your own match history players that have bans on their account, and you don’t have to upload match codes to do it. A plugin called …
CSGO breaks all-time record for highest concurrent player count
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive broke its own concurrent player count record on February 8 with 876,575 players. The previous record was set in April 2016 during the MLG Columbus Major, which hit a peak of 850,485 players. While breaking the record is big news for Valve’s flagship shooter, it’s not unexpected. CSGO has steadily grown since August 2019, in large part thanks to the introduction of Operation Shattered Web. Operation Shattered …
Agent skins will be allowed at ESL One Rio Major, says CSPPA
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
The Counter-Strike Professional Players’ Association revealed today that players at the game’s upcoming ESL One Rio Major will be allowed to use CSGO’s new character models. The models were a controversial subject in competitive play in 2019 due to the different models serving as camouflage in some areas.. In an odd exchange, professional player Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer tweeted at the CSPPA asking for clarification on the model situation for the upcoming …
CSGO legends TaZ and NEO are coming back to form new Polish team
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
Filip “NEO” Kubski and Wiktor “TaZ” Wojitas are forming a new Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team. Very few details about the new team have been revealed thus far, but NEO and TaZ are reportedly already recruiting in hopes of filling their roster with the “most talented and promising players in the Polish CSGO scene.” In a statement, TaZ discussed how his long history with NEO was paramount to the new team’s …
Ex6TenZ retires after 15-year CSGO career, eyes coaching role
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Kevin “Ex6TenZ” Droolans announced his retirement from professional Counter-Strike yesterday through a Twitlonger. His retirement makes him the second professional Frech player to retire in less than a week. On February 3, Edouard “SmithZz” Dubourdeaux decided to hang up his hat. Players should be intimately familiar with Ex6TenZ from his long time in the scene and the well-known organizations that he captained over the years. These include some of the biggest …
Valve will ban reported players from chat after new CSGO patch
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players sometimes run into cheaters, hackers, griefers, and even plain jerks while playing online. For new players learning how to play Counter-Strike, the toxicity is an immediate reason to walk away. It’s common to join a casual server and be blasted with generally poor behavior. Today, Valve finally announced that they’re going to work to correct the problem. A blog post on the official Counter-Strike: Global Offensive …
Devilwalk on GODSENT and how to keep a rising team from falling
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
WIN.gg sat down with GODSENT Counter-Strike: Global Offensive head coach and former professional player Jonatan “Devilwalk” Lundberg this week at the GG.BET ICE Challenge to talk about GODSENT’s recent successes, stumbles, and the tools professional teams use when they get ready to compete. Devilwalk, a CSGO legend in his own right, brings over ten years of experience on both sides of the keyboard. Under his care, GODSENT won Season 2 of the …
GODSENT explains why it’s going to ESL Pro League, not B Site
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
In an exclusive interview with WIN.gg, GODSENT CEO Ludwig Sandgren confirmed that the team would participate in ESL Pro League’s Season 11 over B Site, now announced as Flashpoint. Sandgren emphasized that GODSENT was only given the option to join B Site’s Flashpoint league very recently, opening questions as to whether Flashpoint is having trouble filling its set number of franchised team slots. Sandgren also offered his opinion on what …
CSGO Shattered Web Week 12 Mission Guide: Glocks, drones, and MVPs
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Shattered Web’s week 12 missions and challenges are live on the Counter-Strike Global Offensive client right now, and there are some fun missions hidden among the ones fans have seen before. Like always, there are six missions included this week. The normal six stars are also up for grabs. Here’s the list of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s missions for Week 12 of Shattered Web. Down and to the Right: “Get 5 …
Where to save CSGO config files and how to find your SteamID
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
It’s the one thing that every Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player from Silver to FPL has in common. Despite the community’s obsession with configs, autoexecs, and pro player settings, no one can ever remember where they’re saved. “Where do I save my config file, again?” has been uttered hundreds of thousands of times. Maybe millions. Valve added to the confusion when they changed the default location some time ago, but WIN.gg …
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.
