Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
NRG Esports shocks Team Liquid in Berlin Major with emphatic win
Steven Rondina
NRG Esports is looking very, very good at the StarLadder Berlin Major. In round two of the Legends Stage, NRG upset North American rivals Team Liquid. This advances them to 2-0 in the stage. They’re just one series away from qualifying for the Champions Stage playoffs. The showdown on Dust 2 started off in ugly fashion for Liquid. Despite winning the pistol round, NRG denied the conversion and proceeded to …
Counter-Strike
Natus Vincere start run at Berlin Major by dropping game to G2
Steven Rondina
For 15 rounds, Natus Vincere was looking like the team to beat at the StarLadder Berlin Major. Then they weren’t. The CIS squad seemed ready to cruise to a victory after racking up an early lead over G2 Esports, but wound up stumbling their way to an overtime loss. Natus Vincere was in complete control early on. Egor “flamie” Vasilev and Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko anchored the team while Oleksandr “s1mple” …
Counter-Strike
NRG edge past Renegades in Legends stage at Berlin Major
William Davis
NRG had a slow start to the Challengers stage of the 2019 StarLadder Berlin Major, and has narrowly avoided the same result in the first round of the Legends stage. The mixed squad survived a valiant effort from Renegades on Dust 2 to take a 16-14 victory in the stage’s first round of play. It took a heroic four-kill effort during a 3v5 that boiled down to a 1v1 situation from …
Counter-Strike
Team Liquid start Berlin Major strong with win over CR4ZY
Steven Rondina
Team Liquid are off to a good start at the StarLadder Berlin Major. The favorites to win the event are now 1-0 in the Legends Stage thanks to a 16-9 win over CR4ZY. While that score line might suggest the game was a rout, CR4ZY showed that it is a real threat to the top-ranked teams at the event. Liquid surprised the desk by taking the game to Mirage, historically …
Ancient roster dissolves after freddieb announces departure
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
After Fredrik “freddieb” Buo announced that he is now a free agent, his former team Ancient declared that it was disbanding. It seems that his departure was the project’s breaking point, as André “BARBARR” Möller pointed out. “In the end, disco doplan, freddieb and draken have been playing together for a (CSGO-speaking) very, very long time. And they did great things, as a core. But when thinking of it, the time had come for them …
StarLadder Berlin Major Legends opening matches scheduled
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
The StarLadder Berlin Major’s Challengers Stage has concluded and with that, the 16 teams set to compete in the Legends Stage have been decided. In anticipation of that, StarLadder has released the first round of matchups that will take place. The reveal was made on Twitter: The Legends Stage will be competed using the same format as did the Challengers Stage. The 16 teams will compete in a swiss …
CSGO fans and s1mple are upset with observers at Berlin Major
Nina Forneloza
Counter-Strike
The 2019 Berlin StarLadder Major is underway and some fans and players have already criticized the observers in charge of the tournament’s viewing experience. Observers play a key role in any Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament, as they follow the action and control who the camera is on and where it is positioned on the map. It is their responsibility to make sure they catch the kills and key events of …
Berlin Major Challengers Stage concludes, eight teams advance
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
The StarLadder Berlin Major Challengers Stage is now complete. Eight teams have been eliminated from the event while eight others moved forward to compete in the Legends Stage. When it came to which teams were eliminated and which moved forward, things went generally according to plan. The Challengers Stage featured a number of top-notch Counter-Strike: Global Offensive squads that ran over the competition, alongside some wounded rosters that limped into …
Vitality head to Berlin Major Legends Stage, eliminate Grayhound
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Team Vitality is heading to the Legends Stage of the StarLadder Berlin Major, but they aren’t looking like the force most were expecting. The squad managed to secure a 3-2 record in the Challengers Stage, last defeating Grayhound Gaming. That allows them to move forward to the second phase of the tournament, however their lifespan might still be short if things don’t improve with the team. While the inconsistency of …
Fnatic plans for younger CSGO roster with new in-game leader
William Davis
News
Fnatic organized an AMA on Reddit to shed some light into the current situation with its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team. Fnatic has announced the benching of Richard “Xizt” Landström and Simon “twist” Eliasson. The decision comes after a series of negative results that ultimately led to the team missing the 2019 StarLadder Berlin Major. Andreas Samuelsson, team director at Fnatic, and star player Jesper “JW” Wecksell took part in the AMA. According to Samuelsson, …
Complexity CEO Jason Lake aims to build a new CSGO superteam
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Counter-Strike
Complexity Gaming’s CEO Jason Lake turned to Twitter to announce an overhaul of the organization’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team after a disappointing run at the StarLadder Berlin Major 2019. Complexity’s CSGO team didn’t perform at the major. Even though not widely considered to be a top-tier team, it was expected of them internally to at least reach the New Legends stage, and they weren’t even close to doing so. They …
StarLadder responds to backlash over CSGO major copyright strikes
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive content creator WarOwl took to Twitter to tell his 72,000 followers that giving StarLadder its own major was a mistake. “Such a disappointment; I look forward to the Major every 6 months, but now I can’t make ANY content on it for fear of getting a DMCA. RIP any coverage of the Major,” WarOwl tweeted. He made this tweet after the tournament hosts started striking streamers with copyright …
Mousesports defeats G2 Esports, advances to Berlin Major Legends Stage
William Davis
Counter-Strike
The hyped matchup between G2 Esports and Mousesports turned into one of the best matches of the StarLadder Berlin Major thus far. The match culminated in a fantastic game 3 on Vertigo, which was ultimately won by Mousesports. G2 struck first with a dominant 16-5 victory on Train. Audric “JaCkz” Jug led the way with a total of 24 kills, complemented by Kenny “kennyS” Schrub’s 11 opening kills. While G2 …
CSGO sets new record for average players, breaking 2017 mark
William Davis
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has reached its highest number of average players since its release in 2012. August has been a good month for the first-person shooter. The number of average players went over 402,000, a significant increase compared to the 393,000 in the month of July. The previous record was established in February 2017. The number particularly stands out at this time of the year. Historically, CSGO has had a …
Vitality face elimination at Berlin Major with DreamEaters upset
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Despite being regarded as a potential candidate to win the StarLadder Berlin Major, Team Vitality now finds itself on the brink of being eliminated from the Challengers Stage. In one of the opening series of day two, the heavily favored French squad once again found themselves struggling against an unheralded Russian squad. They were narrowly edged out by DreamEaters in a game on Inferno. The game started in awkward fashion …
G2 Esports starts strong at StarLadder Berlin Major, goes 2-0
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
G2 Esports is off to a strong start at the StarLadder Berlin Major. The enduring French squad ended day one of the Challengers Stage with a 2-0 record. The team scored impressive victories over TYLOO and DreamEaters. G2 started its day with a big showing versus TYLOO. The Chinese squad played a solid all-around game but were consistently flustered by heroics from the individual members of G2. After ceding 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.
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
