Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Riot Games FPS Project A looks like a Counter-Strike competitor
Steven Rondina
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 …
Counter-Strike
BLAST Pro Series Global final teams, date, and prize pool set
Steven Rondina
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, …
Counter-Strike
Changes to Cache finalized and published by creator FMPONE
Nina Forneloza
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 …
Counter-Strike
ESL CEO instructs employees not to mention Hong Kong protests
Olivia Richman
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 …
Counter-Strike
Cache designers hope for a less T-sided map with new open design
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
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 …
Counter-Strike
CSGO update blocks new players from ranked, overhauls Vertigo
Steven Rondina
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
Details on the next CSGO Major will be IEM Season XIV
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive fans are already looking forward to the next big event. While the competitive CSGO scene luckily has a lot of tournaments throughout each month of the year, the next big CSGO event that already has people talking is the Intel Extreme Masters Season XIV final in February of 2020. That is the next CSGO Major, which means it’s a premier tournament that holds a lot of weight. …
Counter-Strike
You can now play CSGO on your mobile device using Steam Link
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Thanks to the Steam Link, an app that brings PC games to smart phones and mobile devices, players can now theoretically run Counter-Strike: Global Offensive wherever they are while on the go. But there are a few important caveats to consider. CSGO doesn’t have an official mobile version. However, Steam Link allows players to play any game they own on Steam to then play on their phones or tablets. The …
Astralis reclaims number one CSGO ranking, dethrones Team Liquid
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Astralis may not have taken first place at DreamHack Masters Malmo, but the event still proved to be a big win for the team. The four-time major winners have reclaimed the top spot in the HLTV global rankings. This shakes off some of the memories of a rough spring that saw the team slip down, and also speaks to how rough the last month has been for previous top team, …
French CSGO star kioShiMa joins Heretics, replaces jeyN
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Counter-Strike
French Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Team Heretics has signed Fabien “kioShiMa” Fiey as Jérémy “jeyN” Nguyen has been moved to the inactive roster. The French veteran player has signed a two-year contract with Heretics, a mid-tier CSGO team he hopes to climb back to the top with. The news comes after kioShiMa played as G2’s stand-in at ESL One New York 2019, helping them achieve a third-place finish. The team shared …
CSGO hits all-time player count high, ranks number one on Steam
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has achieved a serious milestone. For the first time ever, CSGO has started to consistently beat out Dota 2 in terms of the game’s player count. In fact, according to Steam Charts, the game has started regularly landing in the top spot for the most-played game on Steam. This comes at a time when CSGO is on a steady upswing while other prominent titles have been on …
Team Liquid GM responds to rumor that CSGO team is dropping NAF
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
Team Liquid general manager Steve Perino has come forward to shut down rumors that they are removing Keith “NAF” Markovic from their Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster. “Don’t usually reply to this stuff but the messages are getting out of hand. We have zero plans on any roster moves. When we read the NAF article, it became a nice team meme. Now it’s getting out of hand. Yes, we are in …
Fnatic wins DreamHack Masters Malmo with victory over Vitality
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Fnatic might just be a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive elite once again. Competing on home soil, the Swedish team took first place at DreamHack Masters Malmo by defeating Team Vitality 2-1 in the grand finals. The victory was a massive one for a Fnatic roster that underwent significant changes following several tumultuous months. The starting showdown on Dust 2 started off well for Vitality. A good opening in the pistol round …
Fnatic stuns Astralis in DreamHack Masters Malmo with 2-0 win
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Fnatic might just be back at the top of the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene. The overhauled Swedish squad is headed to the grand finals of DreamHack Masters Malmo. The team punched its ticket there with a stunning 2-0 upset win over Astralis in the semifinals. On paper, the series was looking like it should be an ugly one for Fnatic, as the team was set to face Astralis on Overpass …
OG expanding into CSGO with new team including Aleksib, NBK
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen has found a surprising new home in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. According to a report by 1pv, the former ENCE in-game leader is set to take on those duties for a new team sponsored by two-time The International Dota 2 champions OG. The star-studded lineup will also include Nathan “NBK” Schmitt, Elias “Jamppi” Olkkonen, Valdemar “valde” Bjørn Vangså, and Issa “ISSAA” Murad. None of the players that are …
Report says Aleksib turns down $1 million from Complexity Gaming
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
Finnish Counter-Strike: Global Offensive star Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen allegedly turned down a $1 million deal to be Complexity Gaming’s new in-game leader for the next two years. Reporter Jarek “Dekay” Lewis declared that Complexity founder Jason Lake flew to Helsinki, Finland to have a face-to-face discussion with ENCE’s former in-game leader. Even though the source noted that the deal would make Aleksib one of the highest paid in-game leaders in …
Team Liquid out of DreamHack Masters Malmo after Grayhound Gaming loss
Nina Forneloza
Counter-Strike
Australian Couter-Strike: Global Offensive team Grayhound Gaming has beaten Team Liquid at Dreamhack Masters Malmo, eliminating them from the competition. Grayhound came into the tournament as massive underdogs, but instead scored another huge win over a North American team following their opening victory over ESL One New York champions Evil Geniuses. The first map, Mirage, saw Team Liquid punt the game in epic fashion. Liquid entered the match on a …
GeT_RiGhT, f0rest discuss NiP split at DreamHack Masters Malmo
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Counter-Strike
For the first time in years, Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg played an official game without Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund. Ninjas in Pyjamas has played its first game of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive following the deactivation of GeT_RiGhT. The longtime duo discussed this on Twitter, and seemed to get a bit emotional in the process. “10.5 years [playing with] with f0rest. Going to be very special to see him play his first game without …
America passes Sweden in total prize money won in CSGO
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
North American Counter-Strike hit a serious milestone following ESL One New York. According to Esports Earnings, the total winnings of American players in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has eclipsed that of Sweden. This places the United States second overall in CSGO earnings, behind only Denmark. As of this writing, the United States sits at $9,249,654, while Sweden trails by a narrow margin at $9,171,578. While there may be some jockeying for …
s1mple, ZywOo, Twistzz, dev1ce among Esports Awards finalists
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Counter-Strike
The Esports Awards have announced finalists across all categories and opened the public vote. Finalists for the esports PC player of the year and esports PC rookie of the year awards feature mostly League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players, with more of the rookies playing Fortnite. Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken (CSGO) Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz (CSGO) Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev (CSGO) Luka “Perkz” Perković (League) Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng (League) Rasmus …
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.
