Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Multiple CSGO pros call on Valve for Krieg SG 553 to be nerfed
Steven Rondina
Professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pros are just about done with the SG 553. The scoped assault rifle is becoming increasingly popular across all teams in the highest levels of competitive play and that is irking some players. Earlier this week, a trio of pros vented their frustrations with the gun and called for Valve to nerf it. French CSGO star Richard “shox” Papillon started the action by popping off on …
Counter-Strike
CS20 update brings new skins, new Cache to official matchmaking
Steven Rondina
The updated version of Cache has finally landed in official Counter-Strike: Global Offensive matchmaking, along with a bevy of new skins. The latest CSGO update has arrived, bringing a new case, a new sticker capsule, and some changes to the various map pools. The highlight of this is the updated version of Cache landing in Casual’s Defusal Group Sigma, Competitive’s Scrimmage pool, and Deathmatch. Map creator FMPONE has been working …
Counter-Strike
valens leaves Cloud9 as team loses another Major champion
Nina Forneloza
Cloud9 has parted ways with longtime Counter-Strike: Global Offensive coach and analyst Soham “valens” Chowdhury. valens joined Cloud9 in February 2017 and most notable among his achievements in the coaching role was being part of the lineup that won the 2018 ELEAGUE Boston Major by defeating FaZe Clan in a memorable final. valens stepped down from the coaching role in July transitioning into a new data analyst role. The coaching …
Counter-Strike
WINNERS League Season 3 Invite Divisions teams, groups announced
Steven Rondina
Season 3 of WINNERS League is fast approaching and the lineup of competitors for the Invite Division is now set. Once again there will be two Invite Division regions comprised of 32 teams each, bringing ESL Pro League and major-level teams together with hot up-and-comers looking to break out at their expense. Both divisions will feature a number of teams returning from WINNERS League Season 2 alongside interesting newcomers. The …
The CSGO map Vertigo was perfectly recreated in Minecraft
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has some iconic maps and fans of the series have reimagined them in other games on many occasions in the past. This latest one arguably ranks among the best. Guncolony has recreated Vertigo in the ever-popular game Minecraft. The CSGO map was made to scale in the game, with amazing attention to detail. The full map was recreated and is instantly recognizable despite retaining the brightly colored …
StarSeries i-League Season 8 sees return of Semmler to CSGO
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
StarSeries i-League Season 8 has revealed their full talent lineup, and the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive community is excited to see Auguste “Semmler” Massonnat return to casting CSGO. “Back in action. Let’s get it,” Semmler tweeted after it was announced. Casper “cadiaN” Møller was one of many within the esports scene to applaud his return. “Can’t wait to hear one of my games casted with your voice again,” cadiaN said. Semmler also …
Oskar and HS become free agents, both looking for new teams
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players Kevin “HS” Tarn and Tomáš “oskar” Šťastný are now free agents. GamerLegion has broken all contratual ties to HS, something both parties reached an agreement on. The Estonian player is now a free agent after being with the squad since the beginning of the year. He was benched two weeks ago. “We started our adventure in Counter-Strike with HS as one of the core members,” GamerLegion said on Twitter. …
Riot Games FPS Project A looks like a Counter-Strike competitor
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Riot Games has been butting heads with Valve for dominance of the MOBA genre, with League of Legends and Dota 2 both deeply entrenched at this point. Now Riot is looking to take on another one of Valve’s top games. During the League of Legends 10th Anniversary installment of Riot Pls, the developer revealed a slew of new games ranging from a mobile port of Teamfight Tactics to a new …
BLAST Pro Series Global final teams, date, and prize pool set
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
The BLAST Pro Series Global Final will wrap up the first season of the BLAST Pro Series competitive circuit. The event features a number of top Counter-Strike: Global Offensive squads and also saw a number of huge moments take place, including the retirement of Natus Vincere star Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko and the end of Astralis’ 31-game winning streak on Nuke. The circuit, which included six events hosted in cities including Los Angeles, …
Changes to Cache finalized and published by creator FMPONE
Nina Forneloza
Counter-Strike
An update to one of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s most popular maps was recently released, and the Cache update has changed some sections and interactions on the map that could have major ramifications for how teams approach it in the future. Fans have not seen Cache played in the competitive pool since March 2019 when it was replaced by new map Vertigo. Since then it has undergone a whole host of …
ESL CEO instructs employees not to mention Hong Kong protests
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
ESL CEO Ralf Reichert has informed more than 700 employees that they are forbidden from discussing Hong Kong’s ongoing protests. In a Slack message obtained by Kong Kong Free Press, Reichert declares that ESL is a global company that’s active in many countries, something that would make public political statements potentially controversial for the large esports firm. “We naturally do abstain from political discussions and set the best example by …
Guide to smokes, grenades, and molotovs on the new Cache
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
The updated version of Cache has arrived on the Steam Workshop. Though it is not yet available in any official matchmaking modes, fans have already downloaded the map and started developing best practices for the map. The Cache update didn’t completely overhaul the map, but it did implement a few key changes that implement new methods of holding and defending portions of the map. This also changed how to best …
cajunb returns to Danish side North as valde is rumored for OG
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Counter-Strike
Danish Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team North has signed René “cajunb” Borg to replace Valdemar “valde” Vangså as the latter player is now benched. North has announced that cajunb, who played for the team’s original roster in 2017, is coming back to the team after he split paths with them in February of last year. While away from North, cajunb represented OpTic Gaming and later Cloud9 for a short period of time. …
OpTic Gaming CSGO squad announces disbanding, free agency
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
While the Immortals Gaming Club buyout was a boon for OpTic Gaming’s League of Legends team, it spelled the end of an era for the organization’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster. OpTic Gaming’s former CSGO squad had been released earlier this year to avoid conflict, since Immortals already owned their own CSGO team, MIBR. They had been looking for a new organization since then, but their tournament results held them back …
Cache designers hope for a less T-sided map with new open design
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive map Cache has been updated to allow for more creative plays, while at the same time not getting changed too much from the map players learned to love over the years. Lots of details, time, and effort went into the redesign process. Cache level designers Sal “Volcano” Garozzo and Shawn “FMPONE” Snelling worked on the redesign of Cache for about one year. The two worked on new …
CSGO update blocks new players from ranked, overhauls Vertigo
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
The newest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive update has arrived, bringing changes to matchmaking, another significant overhaul to Vertigo, and a number of other small tweaks. As part of a new “onboarding experiment,” CSGO newcomers will be forced to spend their first few games playing in casual and deathmatch modes until they hit Private Rank 2. This will prevent first-time players from immediately diving into ranked matchmaking. No details were given on …
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
