Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
CSGO’s Agents are hard to see, especially for the colorblind
M Alzamora
Shattered Web is Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s first operation in two years, and its release has brought out the helpful side of the CSGO community. As players band together to help each other with the operation’s first week of missions, some fans and pros are concerned about the new agent models and their visibility on competitive maps. Some models models, like the FBI SWAT Operator, tend to disappear into the background …
Counter-Strike
CSGO observer Rushly works EPL Season 10 blindfolded, nails it
M Alzamora
The most impressive thing seen in CounterStrike: Global Offensive this week wasn’t Robin “flusha” Rönnquist’s ace on Inferno. No, it was veteran CSGO observer Alexander “Rushly” Rush’s performance on November 18 during a meaningless game in the ESL Pro League Season 10 Europe Division. By the time Team Vitality and HellRaisers faced off, both had been mathematically eliminated from qualifying for the EPL Season 10 Finals. ESL and Rushly had something prepared for fans that stuck …
Counter-Strike
Tricked Esports sell CSGO team to unknown buyer for massive sum
Olivia Richman
Tricked Esports has sold its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive for $300,000. The Danish organization has not yet revealed who the buyer is, but claimed on their official press release that “the sale bears good news” for the roster. According to Tricked Esports, the players will “take a seat much higher within the esports ecosystem” while being able to “hold onto every asset they own.” “In other words, they will not be …
Counter-Strike
100 Thieves crush FURIA, take last ESL Pro League Finals spot
M Alzamora
100 Thieves took the final spot in the ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals by defeating FURIA eSports. What analysts predicted to be a competitive matchup wasn’t even close as 100 Thieves bested FURIA in impressive 2-0 fashion. In victories on Vertigo and Inferno, 100 Thieves earned their EPL Finals spot with some help from the top-performing player in the North American region this season. Justin “jks” Savage has lived up …
Counter-Strike
Reports say 2020 CSGO Major will be ESL Rio, Brazil’s first
M Alzamora
Reports indicate that ESL will host the first Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major of 2020 in Brazil. According to both a comment from s1mple and a report from DBLTAP, ESL will host the next CSGO Major in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in May 2020. This would be the first Major to take place in the country. ESL last hosted a Major earlier this year at the IEM Katowice tournament in Poland. …
Counter-Strike
Massive CSGO update brings new Operation, Krieg Nerf, more
M Alzamora
Valve has officially launched Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s next operation, Shattered Web. The release marks the first operation for CSGO in over two years. Shattered Web adds an in-game reward system that gives players rewards ranging from stickers and sprays to new character models. Alongside these, Operation Shattered Web brings new cooperative Guardian missions and an all-new “Strike Mission,” according to the official CSGO blog. Shattered Web is available now on …
Counter-Strike
Flusha, Fnatic earn ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals spot
M Alzamora
Fnatic defeated Team Vitality in the ESL Pro League Season 10 Europe Division The 2-1 win guarantees Fnatic a top-two finish in Round 2’s group B, ensuring the team a spot in the ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals. The achievement was made even more impressive by the absence of Fnatic’s Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson due to an illness. Fnatic enlisted Budapest Five’s Rasmus “kreaz” Johansson to stand in for the veteran. Kreaz posted an …
Counter-Strike
Coldzera has lost 16-0 on Dust 2 four times, and there’s more
M Alzamora
Faze Clan’s embarrassing 16-0 loss to Astralis at the recent IEM Beijing tournament came with an interesting stat for one of the star members of the FaZe roster. Over the course of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, there have been a limited number of professional matches that are so one-sided that the loser fails to secure a single round. Some lucky fans got to witness another 16-0 in Beijing as FaZe lost …
GODSENT impress in CSGO return at WePlay! Forge of Masters
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
GODSENT’s new CounterStrike: Global Offensive team is off to a good start. The European squad went 2-0 in the opening rounds of the WePlay! Forge of Masters Season 2 Finals and advanced to the event’s playoffs. After ceasing operations in 2018 and reopening earlier this year, GODSENT returned to CSGO by signing NoChance. Veteran player Mikail “Maikelele” Billi led his team to victories over Team GamerLegion and forZe to advance out of the …
GeT_RiGhT to work as analyst for ECS Season 8 Finals
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
FACEIT has announced the broadcast talent that will be working at the ECS Season 8 Finals. In a series of tweets, the organizer revealed that former stage host Freya Spiers will reprise her role as the event’s desk host after a successful debut at the ECS Season 7 Finals. Retired Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pro Sean “seang@res” Gares joins Spiers as the desk’s first analyst. ECS gave fans a nice surprise by …
Zonic’s book discusses Astralis roster moves, feud with Fnatic
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Astralis head coach Danny “zonic” Sørensen has released “The Brain Behind Astralis,” a new book that gives fans an inside look into life through a coach’s perspective. The book covers both his life and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive career. According to Reddit user /u/Temporal_Bellusaurus, the book contains some interesting tidbits about CSGO’s best team. While the book is currently only available in Danish, /u/Temporal_Bellusaurus gave the Global Offensive subreddit a summary …
Deathrunners brings CSGO obstacle courses to a deadly new level
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a tactical shooter, but there have always been fun options out there for players looking to mix things up. From deathmatches to surfing, there have been both official and unofficial ways to change up one’s CSGO experience. A map designer is looking to add an interesting new style of game to the match with “Deathrunners.” Deathrunners “is a movement-based game mode which sees competing players race …
GODSENT returns to CSGO by signing NoChance roster
Nina Forneloza
Counter-Strike
GODSENT have signed a new Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster. The Swedish organization announced that it has signed the players of NoChance, comprised of Martin “STYKO” Styk, Mikail “Maikelele” Bill, Kevin “kRYSTAL” Amend, Pavle “Maden” Bošković, Jesse “zehN” Linjala, and coach Jonatan “Devilwalk” Lundberg. This comes following NoChance’s reformation following the squad’s split from SMASH Esports after less than two months. The team was released by the SMASH organization earlier this …
BLAST Global Finals features Liquid vs Astralis in first round
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
The BLAST Pro Series has announced the starting matches for the upcoming BLAST Global Finals. BLAST Pro Series released the starting matches for the BLAST Global Finals, setting the stage for the end of BLAST’s first circuit season. According to BLAST, team seeding for the groups was determined by the total number of points each team accrued over the seven qualifying BLAST Pro Series tournaments. At the conclusion of the …
SMASH Esports accused of not paying NOChance CSGO players
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
Just two months after being signed to SMASH Esports, the NoChance Counter-Strike: Global Offensive squad is leaving the organization. SMASH Esports posted the major roster change on Twitter, a positive announcement with a lot of emojis. “Every story has an ending, even a short one. Today, we announce that our journey with the NoChance boys ends. We wish them the best of luck in the future! We have an awesome, …
Two years after Hydra, when is the next CSGO operation?
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
The CounterStrike: Global Offensive fandom has now been waiting two years for a new Operation. November 13 was the two-year anniversary of the end of Operation Hydra. Operations, CSGO’s version of an in-game event, added a new way to progress in a game that has few other ways outside a ranking system. Operations included campaigns, missions, and challenges for players to take part in. As an added bonus, operations also …
Valve eyeing RFRSH, Astralis with new CSGO Major rule change
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Valve released a statement in a November 12 official blog post concerning tournament organizers and their relationships with pro Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams. With the 2020 CSGO Major now coming into sight, Valve has clearly been paying close attention to what’s been going on in and around the CSGO scene. After today’s developer post, it’s safe to say that some of the recent relationships seen between tournament organizers and teams …
GeT_RiGhT and SicK are among the top CSGO free agents
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
There are always players looking for teams, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has names big and small in the scene left riding the bench today. CSGO’s lack of franchising means that the traditional free agency period found in esports like League of Legends doesn’t exist. Teams and players are free to make moves all year-round. Roster locks, the cutoff date for teams to submit their rosters to tournament organizers, are different …
The most useful console commands to customize CSGO settings
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s Source Engine is ancient by programming standards, but its console still gives users a surprising amount of control over their gaming experience. CSGO’s console allows users to enter commands that affect the way the game behaves. For example, users can adjust the volume of game sounds with the console command “volume” or clear bullet holes and blood from walls using “r_cleardecals.” Not all commands work on every …
BIG Academy, Swole Patrol impress in WINNERS League Week 3
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
WINNERS League Season 3’s third week was a showcase for some of the stronger teams in the invite divisions. Things calmed down after last week’s upsets, with the only outlier being a Team Queso upset over Team LDLC. ESuba started strong on Mirage, building up a solid 5-1 lead before allowing BIG Academy to storm back and take the half 8-7. They carried the comeback mentality into the second half, only allowing …
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.
