Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
MiBR and coldzera turn to psychologist to fix internal issues
Nina Forneloza
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team MiBR has hired a psychologist to try and resolve some internal issues within the team. The hiring was confirmed by Epitacio “TACO” de Melo on Twitter. MiBR clearly has some internal issues that need to be addressed. Their recent performances have been poor, with the Brazilian team having been one of the first teams eliminated from the recent ESL One Cologne event. Following that event, star …
Counter-Strike
BLAST Pro Series defends move to smaller, more expensive CSGO venue
Olivia Richman
Despite backlash from fans, BLAST Pro Series director of product and experience Nicolas Estrup is confident that its upcoming Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event will be a great experience thanks to a late change of venue. Originally to be held at the University of Southern California’s Galen Center, the BLAST Pro Series: Los Angeles CSGO event will now be held in a smaller space in Oakwood, California. While fans who purchased …
Counter-Strike
Fortnite edges CSGO for biggest esports prizes halfway through 2019
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Fortnite esports has shared the highest prize pool thus far in 2019, followed by Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, and League of Legends. According to Esports Earnings’ data, Fortnite had a total prize pool of $14,723,414.67 through 179 tournaments featuring over 1,500 players. Each of the Fortnite World Cup 2019 qualifier weeks has added a million dollars to the prize pool, and $3 million was added through the Fortnite Celebrity …
Counter-Strike
Lazarus Esports kicked out of Americas Minor, Luminosity added
Steven Rondina
Lazarus Esports’ loss is Luminosity Gaming’s gain. The Brazilian squad is now set to compete in the Americas Minor Championship ahead of the StarLadder Berlin Major. The move comes after a number of changes to Lazarus’ roster. The news was announced by StarLadder on Twitter. According to StarLadder, the rules called for a play-in series between Luminosity and Team Envy to determine the replacement for Lazarus. Envy declined the invitation …
Team Liquid players break into top 25 money earners in CSGO history
Nina Forneloza
Counter-Strike
Team Liquid has defeated Vitality at ESL One Cologne 2019, and in doing so won the Intel Grand Slam Season 2 in record time. The prize money from those two wins has pushed the team’s players into the top 25 earners in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive history, according to esportsearnings.com. The Intel Grand Slam awards a prize of $1,000,000 to the first team that wins four out of the 10 chosen …
Luminosity Gaming seeks to bring new audiences to esports
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Counter-Strike
Luminosity Gaming has partnered with Big Digital to launch gaming activation sessions. Luminosity and Big Digital are looking to bring esports closer to mainstream media and a wider esports audience by providing that audience with a more interactive experience. The partnership aims to share the esports experience to a broader audience by combining gaming containers and digital technology. Luminosity is focusing on music audiences, as they believe there is a …
Team Liquid CSGO wins ESL One Cologne 2019
Nina Forneloza
News
Team Liquid has won ESL One Cologne 2019 and secured the Intel Grand Slam Season 2 prize of $1 million. The North American squad took out Team Vitality 3-1 in the grand finals of the event. That victory combined with first-place finishes at Intel Extreme Masters XIV Sydney, DreamHack Masters Dallas, and ESL Pro League Season 9 locked up the Intel Grand Slam. Team Liquid were dominant on Overpass, winning …
Coldzera reportedly looks to leave MiBR before Berlin Major
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
MiBR is in a tricky spot with the reported benching of the team’s star player. According to a report by HLTV, Marcelo “coldzera” David has requested his deactivation from the team following BLAST Pro Series Los Angeles and Intel Extreme Masters XIV Chicago. If true, that would include his withdrawal from the upcoming StarLadder Berlin Major. Per HLTV, the reasoning behind the request is frustration over MiBR’s unideal results in …
Team Liquid versus Vitality grand finals set for ESL One Cologne
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
The ESL One Cologne grand finals are now set. In the final series of the event, Team Liquid will take on Team Vitality in a matchup of two of the hottest teams in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The game will carry huge bragging rights, as well as a potentially massive paycheck for Liquid. Vitality kicked off the semifinals with a series against Astralis. Though the French team got off to an …
Dupreeh admits Astralis is no longer the best team in the world
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Astralis is no longer the best team in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Pundits have been shouting it for weeks, but now Astralis player Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen agrees with that assessment as well. During a post-match interview at ESL One Cologne, the team’s entry fragger was asked point blank about the team’s recent struggles and his response was plain. “Clearly we’re not the best team in the world. I don’t think we’ve …
Vitality faces Astralis at ESL One Cologne after beating NRG Esports
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
ESL One Cologne’s semifinals are going to have a main event feel. Following Team Vitality’s win over NRG Esports, the French squad is set to face Astralis for a spot in the grand finals. This is the first time the two teams will face off in an official tournament match. Vitality earned their spot in the semifinals with a dominant 2-0 victory over NRG Esports. The first showdown on Dust …
Jump throw scripts are legalized for next CSGO major by Valve
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
A common Counter-Strike: Global Offensive script is going to become legal in professional games. Jump throw binds have been officially legalized for the StarLadder Berlin Major. The decision was made with cooperation between StarLadder, Valve, and the Counter-Strike Professional Players’ Association, with the news being announced by StarLadder. The official rulebook for the upcoming StarLadder Berlin Major was changed to reflect this: “During LAN phase using of scripts will be …
CSGO meta shifts hard at ESL One Cologne after Anniversary Update
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive professionals are dialing back their use of the AUG. The CT-side scoped assault rifle has experienced a steep drop in usage at the ESL One Cologne tournament. This suggests that the recent nerfs to the gun have had a serious impact on its viability in pro play. The AUG has only been chosen around 20% of the time when it comes to CT assault rifle purchases, with …
Lazarus Esports beats New Identity in debut WINNERS League NA final
Jared Wynne
Counter-Strike
Lazarus Esports has been crowned the inaugural champion of WINNERS League’s debut North American invitational tournament after a thrilling grand finals victory. Lazarus defeated New Identity in the final series by a 2-1 margin. The finals included overtime, comebacks, and big individual performances from some of America’s best Counter-Strike: Global Offensive talent. New Identity got off to a promising start on Overpass. The team played Lazaraus to a standstill, trading …
s1mple knife fail allows Team Liquid to come back at ESL One Cologne
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev is probably the single best Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player in the world, but he isn’t perfect. The Natus Vincere star wound up with some egg on his face at ESL One Cologne. During a group stage match with Team Liquid, the player botched an attempted knife kill on Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella that helped facilitate a comeback for the North American side. The moment was clipped on Twitch: …
Virtus.pro CSGO team benches OKOLICIOUZ, announce phr as stand-in
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
After just a few weeks, Virtus.pro is benching Michal “OKOLICIOUZ” Glowaty. The Polish team has announced that Tomasz “phr” Wojcik will be the stand-in for OKOLICIOUZ, who joined the roster in May. At the time, OKOLICIOUZ was serving as Pawel “byali” Bienlinski’s replacement. byali had left Virtus.pro after playing on the team for five years, stating he couldn’t agree with Virtus.pro’s “general principles.” The team’s fans were skeptical of OKOLICIOUZ …
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
