Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
French CSGO star kioShiMa joins Heretics, replaces jeyN
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
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 …
Counter-Strike
CSGO hits all-time player count high, ranks number one on Steam
Steven Rondina
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 …
Counter-Strike
Team Liquid GM responds to rumor that CSGO team is dropping NAF
Olivia Richman
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 …
Counter-Strike
Fnatic wins DreamHack Masters Malmo with victory over Vitality
Steven Rondina
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 …
Counter-Strike
Team Liquid out of DreamHack Masters Malmo after Grayhound Gaming loss
Nina Forneloza
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 …
Counter-Strike
GeT_RiGhT, f0rest discuss NiP split at DreamHack Masters Malmo
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
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 …
Counter-Strike
America passes Sweden in total prize money won in CSGO
Steven Rondina
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 …
Counter-Strike
s1mple, ZywOo, Twistzz, dev1ce among Esports Awards finalists
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
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 …
EG crashes out of DreamHack Masters Malmo days after ESL NY win
Nina Forneloza
Counter-Strike
Evil Geniuses, the Counter-strike: Global Offensive champions at ESL One New York, have been dumped out of Dreamhack Masters Malmo mere days after lifting that trophy. On September 30, Evil Geniuses stood on the stage as victors holding the ESL New York trophy aloft. This marked a year since a team not named Astralis or Team Liquid had been victorious at a Masters level event. Evil Geniuses had announced themselves …
EG and Liquid absorb early losses at DreamHack Masters Malmo
Nina Forneloza
Counter-Strike
Evil Geniuses caused quite a stir last week in announcing their return to both League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. They then set the esports world aflame when the newly branded CSGO team defeated Astralis 3-1 at ESL One New York, but that hasn’t helped them to avoid an early stumble in Malmo, Sweden. Evil Geniuses originally started in CS in the early 2000s and eventually shut down their …
nexa and huNter join G2 Esports after breakthrough with CR4ZY
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Counter-Strike
G2 Esports has signed Serbian Counter-Strike: Global Offensive duo Nemanja “nexa” Isaković and Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač as the team goes global. After 3 years of being a French-only team, G2 has decided to open its roster towards international waters. The organization is doing so by signing nexa and huNter, both of whom will be transferred from CR4ZY. nexa will serve as G2’s new in-game leader, while huNter is taking on …
WINNERS League Season 3 approaches as top teams set to collide
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
The talent pool in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is deeper than ever before, but rising stars don’t always get their opportunity to shine. One of the core goals of WINNERS League is fixing that by giving developing hopefuls a clear path to the top of the competitive scene. WINNERS League has three divisions for talent at each stage of their careers. Rookies and players looking to work from the ground up …
OpTic Gaming upset Team Liquid at DreamHack Masters Malmo
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
OpTic Gaming came to DreamHack Masters Malmo to prove themselves. In their first match against Team Liquid, the underdog team dominated the competition. The one-sided match concluded with OpTic Gaming victorious, 16-9. This came as a shock to the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive community. Team Liquid had just come off of a third-place finish at ESL New York, a big event where OpTic trailed behind in fifth place. Team Liquid is …
Semmler teases a potential return to broadcasting CSGO
William Davis
Counter-Strike
Auguste “Semmler” Massonat, current Overwatch League caster and a former Counter Strike: Global Offensive caster beloved by many fans, could soon return to his roots during the OWL offseason. Semmler dropped a cryptic hint in a Twitter reply to a CSGO fan pining for a Semmler return, saying that the fan in question could soon see his wish answered. “Might not have to wait too long to hear me again,” …
Cache creator reveals final changes to map before big debut
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Fans finally got a look at the updated version of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive map Cache at ESL One New York. But that wasn’t the final version of the map. After receiving some thoughts and critiques from pro players, Cache creator FMPONE took to Twitter to detail some more tweaks to the map that he has in the works. Many of these changes are fixes to minor visual and technical issues …
CSGO fans debate Terrorist and Counter-Terrorist name changes
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
While long-time Counter-Strike: Global Offensive fans don’t bat an eye at the game’s use of “terrorists” and “counter-terrorists,” these can be polarzing words to people outside of the CSGO community. Once again, the CSGO community is questioning if the names should be changed. This time, ESL’s vice president of pro gaming suggested using the terms “offensive” and “defensive” instead. A poll on Twitter currently has over 26,000 votes, and the …
GamerLegion benches ScreaM and HS, adds RuStY for Swedish roster
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
GamerLegion has announced some major changes to their Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team. The organization stated that they are “conciously” taking steps towards becoming a fully Swedish team. “We see huge opportunities here to fight our way to the top,” GamerLegion explained. On their journey to be a fully Swedish CSGO team, the organization has announced that Alfred “RuStY” Karlsson has been added to the starting roster and Daniel “djL” Naranci …
Evil Geniuses defeat Astralis in ESL One New York finals
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Evil Geniuses’ investment into Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is already paying off. In their debut under a new banner, the former NRG Esports squad picked up a huge win at ESL One New York. The team took a convincing 3-1 win over Astralis in the grand finals of the event to earn one of their biggest live event victories to date. The series was a best-of-five, something that seemingly favored Astralis …
Cache update changes, release date revealed at ESL One New York
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
At long last, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive fans have seen the updated version of Cache. The revisions to the Chernobyl-themed map were unveiled at ESL One New York in a show match featuring players from Team Liquid, G2 Esports, Evil Geniuses, and more. The creators of the map opened the final day of the event by discussing the changes and their creative process. The Cache update is primarily a visual one, …
Astralis head to ESL One New York finals, beat Team Liquid
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Astralis has proven that the team is still an absolute force. Team Liquid learned that the hard way as they once again came up short against the Danish squad, losing to them in the semifinals at ESL One New York. While Liquid had the opportunity to undo some of the damage Astralis did to Liquid’s reputation at the major, they instead wound up taking another loss in front of a …
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.
