Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
s1mple banned from Twitch after using a homophobic slur
Steven Rondina
If anybody is struggling to find the Twitch page of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pro Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev, there’s a good reason for that. The Natus Vincere star was slapped with a ban on the streaming platform for using a homophobic epithet during a recent stream. While the slur was not apparently made in anger, it still violates Twitch rules and will keep him from streaming for a week, per Rod …
Counter-Strike
Valve briefly launches the wrong stickers for the Berlin Major
William Davis
All doesn’t seem well in the world of Counter Strike: Global Offensive. Several major organizations, including juggernaut Team Liquid, weren’t happy with their stickers for the Berlin Major. The mistake seems to have been fixed, and all the teams involved with the mix-up have since been given the correct sticker format. For a time, last year’s stickers showed up for purchase for several teams. Players can purchase stickers of their …
Counter-Strike
StarLadder Berlin Major Viewer Pass added in CSGO update
Steven Rondina
The StarLadder Berlin Major Viewer Pass is now available for sale. As with past majors, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive fans have the chance to engage with the biggest tournament of the season by earning in-game rewards and completing in-game challenges. The Viewer Pass starts at $9.99, but fans can also purchase extra cosmetic items to commemorate the event. There are no particularly surprising additions to the Viewer Pass this time. As …
Counter-Strike
oBo to become the youngest player ever at a CS:GO major
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Being only a bit over 16 years old, Owen “oBo” Schlatter is the youngest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pro player to ever attend a major tournament in the game’s history. oBo is an American CSGO rifler currently representing Complexity Gaming. Heading into the StarLadder Berlin Major, oBo will be entering the tournament as the youngest contestant ever to play at such a high level. The young American breakout star was born …
Counter-Strike
CSGO tournament Fragadelphia responds to shooting threat
William Davis
Fragadelphia 13 organizer John Fazio promised to heighten security at the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event following an online shooting threat. Twitter user Droidcsgo posted a screengrab of a Counter-Strike game focusing on the in-game chat, where CSGO player “ohcgnor” mentions that they are considering “shooting up” the Fragadelphia event. Fazio responded to the tweet a few hours later and declared that the organizers were taking the matter seriously. “We are …
Counter-Strike
Famous streamer m0E interrupted by daughter turning off PC
M Alzamora
Popular Twitch streamer Mohamad “m0E” Assad was playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on stream recently, but the fun came to an abrupt end when his daughter crept into the scene. It was just after a failed quick scope attempt that she innocently struck the power button on his PC. His team was winning the game 12-6 at the time of the accident. Thankfully, m0E has a separate streaming PC, so the …
Counter-Strike
Vexed Gaming reveals partnership with sportswear brand Kappa
Olivia Richman
Vexed Gaming just announced a partnership with Italian sportswear brand Kappa. The partnership will have Vexed Gaming’s players wearing Kappa apparel, both casually and while competing. The team wear and leisure wear will be available to purchase in September. Vexed Gaming chief gaming officer Mark Weller called Kappa’s first venture into esports a “step for the community and the industry.” He went on to call Kappa an iconic brand that has …
Counter-Strike
STYKO leaves Mousesports, joins NoChance on full-time basis
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Martin “STYKO” Styk is joining NoChance on a full-time basis. The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player is parting ways with Mousesports after two years with the organization. The Slovakian player let his fans know of the switch on Twitter, stating he is “not part of Mousesports anymore” and is “now gonna represent NoChance after players’ break.” Both teams confirmed the news shortly thereafter. STYKO first joined Mousesports in 2017 after a …
coldzera takes mibr frustration public after fan meeting dispute
Nina Forneloza
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive star Marcelo “coldzera” David has vented his frustration with esports organization MiBR over how they have treated him at a recent event at which coldzera met fans in São Paulo. This comes after a long period of frustration for coldzera surrounding his position with the team. The Brazillian, generally considered one of the best CSGO players in the world, had asked to leave the organization in July. …
CSGO gets recreation of Raid, one of Call of Duty’s most famous maps
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Counter-Strike
A steam user under the alias “Lava” has remade a popular map from Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Lava uploaded a work-in-progress version of Black Ops 2’s famous Raid map to the Steam Workshop and shared they have been working on the map over the course of six months, with a total of 120 hours now committed to the project. Players might still experience issues …
Epsilon Esports set to close after releasing CSGO roster
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Counter-Strike
One of Europe’s most enduring tier-two organizations is no more. According to Vie.gg, Epsilon Esports is set to shut down after more than ten years in the scene. The report states the move stems from an inability to keep up with growing competition and costs. Epsilon has not made a statement on the matter. Founded in 2008, the Belgium-based esports organization has competed in a number of different titles ranging …
Gob b retires, smooya and nex return in BIG roster change
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
BIG won’t be playing in their backyard this August and they are making some significant changes as a result. Following the team’s failure to qualify for the StarLadder Berlin Major, BIG has revealed their new lineup for the fall. Denis “denis” Howell has been removed from the active lineup while Fatih “gob b” Dayik is retiring from competition to take on a management role. BIG will fill those holes by …
Quantum Bellator Fire executive fires back after claims of theft
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive professionals have started speaking out about some of the speed bumps they’ve hit with sponsoring esports organizations during their careers. One of those players is Natus Vincere player Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhailov. In a series of Twitter posts, the player dropped thinly veiled hints that he had $95,000 stolen from him by his former organization, Quantum Bellator Fire. In an interview with HLTV, QBF co-owner Vyacheslav Solovyev spoke …
Cache update is now complete, possible release date teased
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
The renovation of popular Counter-Strike: Global Offensive map Cache is finally complete. ESL revealed that the long-awaited update to the Chernobyl-themed map has been finished in a post on Twitter. The fact that the revelation came from ESL instead of map creator FMPONE comes as a bit of a surprise. FMPONE has been reworking his signature map for over a year now and has generally kept fans in the dark …
Syman Gaming qualify for Berlin Major, told to change logo by Valve
Nina Forneloza
Counter-Strike
Syman Gaming, a team that recently celebrated qualification to the StarLadder Berlin Major, has had their celebrations cut short. The team currently ranked 40th in the world qualified for the major having finished in second place in the CIS Minor. After their qualification, the team announced on twitter that they had been asked to change their logo due to plagiarism accusations by StarLadder and Valve before the major begins on …
Major CS:GO patch includes update to Vertigo, two new maps
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
A big patch has arrived in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. With the professional scene cooling down en route to the StarLadder Berlin Major, a number of big changes have arrived in the game. A new matchmaking option has been implemented, two new defusal maps have been added to official servers, and Vertigo received yet another overhaul. Most players will immediately notice the new addition to Competitive mode. In addition to the …
CSGO players report matchmaking issues, overnight rank resets
Nina Forneloza
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has some serious matchmaking issues. Fans have been reporting brutally long queue times in competitive matchmaking, with some waiting over 20 minutes to get into a standard game. The issue appears to have affected players all over the world, suggesting it’s not specific to any one region. There have also been multiple reports of ranks being reset overnight. Users suggest the problem is exclusive to competitive mode. …
Astralis, Origen splitting off from parent company RFRSH Entertainment
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Counter-Strike
RFRSH Entertainment has sold its competitive branch to a newly formed Danish organization. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team Astralis and League of Legends LEC franchise Origen are splitting off from RFRSH starting next week. Their new parent company, known as Astralis Group ApS, is an investor group comprised of individuals from the Danish sports and business worlds. Financial terms were not disclosed but Danish outlet TV 2 Sport reported the deal …
CSGO fans call on Valve for crowdfunded majors like TI9
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Counter-Strike
The Dota 2 community has turned The International 2019 into the biggest esports event in history. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s community wishes it had the chance to do the same. Valve is the publisher of both Dota 2 and CSGO, but while the pro community of the former title gets to reap the benefits of a $31 million tournament inflated by crowdfunding through a seasonal battle pass, CSGO has never seen …
StarLadder Berlin Major team lineup set after third-place play-in
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
The field for the StarLadder Berlin Major is now set. The Third-Place Play-In for the event has wrapped up with North, HellRaisers, and INTZ Esports rounding out the field of challengers, with MVP.PK falling short of qualifying. The former three join the previous field of qualifier winners, which includes top squads such as Furia Esports, NRG Esports, and Mousesports, as well as regional staples such as TyLoo and ForZe. Though …
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.
