Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Immortals looking to sell OpTic Gaming CS:GO team after buyout
Steven Rondina
The OpTic Gaming Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team is caught in the crossfire of their organization’s business dealings. Following a report from Unikrn that Immortals is planning to divest from OpTic’s CS:GO team, Immortals executive Tomi Kovanen took to Twitter to discuss the squad’s future. He confirmed the news that Immortals is looking to sell the team, and added they are working with the squad on finding them a new organization. “We …
Counter-Strike
Underdogs reign supreme early in Winners League Season 2 playoffs
Steven Rondina
The Winners League Season 2 playoffs have officially begun, and it was a big week for underdogs. Top seeds in both the North American and European divisions took on teams that just squeaked into the playoffs. You wouldn’t have known which was which from the results though, as the lower-ranked teams scored some impressive upsets to advance to the quarterfinals. There was a lot to talk about, but here are …
Counter-Strike
Esports Insider 2019 Hall of Fame Inductees have been announced
Olivia Richman
Esports Insider inducted three new esports influencers to their Hall of Fame. Former OpTic Gaming CEO Hector “H3CZ” Rodriguez, Counter-Strike professional and Dignitas’ VP of markting Heather “SapphiRe” Garrozo, and former broadcaster and current director of creative development at Twitch Marcus “djWHEAT” Graham all received the award at the Nixon Peabody in Los Angeles. “We’re over the moon to be recognizing three icons of the esports industry,” Esports Insider co-founder …
Counter-Strike
Complexity Gaming coach discusses ECS Season 7 cheating accusations
Olivia Richman
Despite both teams being eliminated from ECS Season 7, Complexity Gaming and Made in Brazil still have some controversy lingering from their match at the event. Complexity Gaming defeated MIBR in the Group B elimination match, 2-1. But MIBR believes this may not have been the most fair of victories. In fact, Complexity’s head coach Matt “Warden” Dickens has been accused of blatantly cheating on the match’s live stream. In …
Counter-Strike
UPS lost the DreamHack Masters Dallas trophy won by Team Liquid
Nina Forneloza
DreamHack Masters Dallas awarded Team Liquid a strange prize for winning the tournament. After defeating ENCE Esports, the North American squad hoisted small table plaques and were given a set of oversized rings to celebrate their victory. According to a tweet by DreamHack, that’s because the actual trophy for the tournament was lost by delivery company United Parcel Service. “As you may have noticed, the DreamHack Masters Dallas trophy has …
Counter-Strike
CS:GO fan recreates Dust2 in the Unreal engine with great results
Steven Rondina
What would Counter-Strike: Global Offensive look like with better graphics? YouTuber Quixel answered that question with a tutorial on how to recreate iconic CS:GO map Dust 2 in Unreal Engine 4. Though Global Offensive is graphically solid, the UE4 remake is absolutely stunning. Check out the full video here: The tutorial focuses in on the area surrounding the A bombsite, including a portion of long, catwalk, and the CT spawn. …
Counter-Strike
FaZe Clan dealing with second lawsuit as Tfue, H1ghsky1 drama unfolds
Steven Rondina
When it rains for FaZe Clan, it pours. According to a report by The Blast, the esports organization has been quietly dealing with a lawsuit from defunct social media platform Hubrick. The two sides have been locked in a legal battle since 2018 for “intentional interference with prospective economic advantage and misappropriation of trade secrets,” with Hubrick seeking over $1 million in damages. Per the report, Hubrick helped build FaZe …
Counter-Strike
n0thing reveals match fixing offers he received as a pro in CS:GO
Nina Forneloza
Retired Counter-Strike: Global Offensive professional Jordan “n0thing” Gilbert revealed he was approached to fix matches on a number of occasions. Speaking to esports journalist Richard Lewis, n0thing looked back over his career and discussed how CS:GO has changed at the competitive level. Along the way, he reminisced on the iBUYPOWER scandal and his own experiences with match fixers. “I had heard that from a couple of other people, my teammates …
Team Liquid wins DreamHack Masters Dallas, get revenge on ENCE
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Team Liquid were the home team at DreamHack Masters Dallas and they sent the crowd home happy. The North American squad took first place at the event, defeating ENCE Esports in a hardfought grand finals. The victory helps undo some of Liquid’s recent struggles against ENCE and helps rebuild the team’s reputation as a championship squad. Game one on Mirage was a tale of two halves. Initially, it was Liquid …
Denial Esports closing after CEO blasts his own players
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Embattled organization Denial Esports is dead. Again. After reports began circulating that Denial was set to close its doors, the news was confirmed by former Denial CEO Zachary Smith. He didn’t stop there, though. Smith delivered a lengthy rant on Twitter, blasting a number of Denial’s players and taking shots at other individuals in the industry. “We started off trying to do something great with a tainted name and a …
Famous CS:GO YouTuber Zuhn gets permanent ban, denies all wrongdoing
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has a big problem with players cheating, but at least one infamous alleged hacker might just have gotten his comeuppance. YouTuber Zuhn has received a permanent ban from CS:GO. The bans are visible on two of Zuhn’s Steam accounts and were delivered simultaneously. The player has built a sizable social media following, including over 300,000 subscribers and tens of millions of views on YouTube with his highlight …
Legendary Fnatic player Pronax announces his retirement from CS:GO
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
A Counter-Strike legend is hanging up his proverbial gloves. Swedish star Markus “pronax” Wallsten has announced his retirement from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive competition, effective immediately. He announced the news on his Twitter account. “As of today I am officially retired from competitive CS:GO and I would like to sincerely thank everyone that have supported me through my career as a player,” Pronax said. “I am moving on to something bigger …
New map Ruby joins CS:GO competitive map pool, Zoo sent to casual
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s competitive map pool has received another big shakeup. After spending a month in Defusal Group Sigma in the casual matchmaking rotation, Ruby has officially been added to the competitive map pool. Losing its spot as a result is Zoo. Ruby was added on the April 25 update alongside hostage map Workout. The level based on historic Portugal stands apart from most other defusal maps, with a labyrinthian …
Denial Esports gets blasted by CS:GO pro after latest scandals
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski has some important advice for young esports talents. The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive star has been keeping a close eye on esports news of late and one of the biggest topics of discussion is the downward spiral of Denial Esports. The organization which fields teams in multiple esports titles, including CS:GO, has been mired in controversy surrounding its inability, or perhaps its unwillingness, to pay its talent. His …
Winners League Season 2 playoff brackets are now revealed
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
The Winners League Season 2 playoffs are officially upon us. The group stage has wrapped up and with that, the list of teams advancing to the playoffs has been set. The top four teams from each group have qualified for the playoffs, lining up 16 squads to compete in both the North American and European regions. The playoffs bracket for North America is as follows: The North American region will …
Na`Vi reportedly set to bring in Boombl4 to replace veteran Edward
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
The Natus Vincere CS:GO team looks set to make a roster change as HLTV reports that Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhailov will join the team, replacing Ioann “Edward” Sukhariev. Talks between Na`Vi and Winstrike Team are reportedly at an advanced stage, with a deal expected to be confirmed in the coming days. Boombl4 is best known as the star player and in-game leader of Winstrike Team, formerly known as Quantum Bellator Fire. …
Racist incident sees CS:GO pro Sindi given ban from FACEIT
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
An ugly incident involving racism and slut-shaming has hit the pro Counter-Strike: Global Offensive community. During a game on FACEIT involving several pro players, ACES Esports player Tatyana “Sindi” Gracheva unloaded a number of racial epithets at Noel “melonhead” Raki. The language came during an ugly argument involving multiple players in the game. An exchange between Monolith Gaming’s Artem “malik” Arkhipov, Winstrike Team’s David “n0rb3r7” Danielyan, and former Epsilon Esports …
Team Vitality cruise through CS_Summit 4, take the chicken trophy
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Team Vitality are the champions of CS_Summit 4. The French squad looked excellent throughout the house party-style tournament, crushing the group stage and making a strong run through the playoffs to hoist the trophy. The final victory for Vitality came at the expense of the favorites to win the tournament, Team Liquid. Vitality entered the grand finals coming off a dramatic win over ENCE Esports, and the team seemed to …
NRG Esports players fly in a wild play during game at CS Summit 4
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pros have made it pretty clear that they hate Vertigo, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t come up with some cool new tricks for it. During CS_Summit 4, NRG Esports showed that off in brilliant fashion by essentially demonstrating how to fly on the map. Check out the clip here, from the team’s group stage match against Team Liquid: Starting off in the area above the T-side …
StarLadder CS:GO Major dates in August and September are changed
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
StarLadder has announced a slight change to the dates of the Challengers and Legends stages of the upcoming Counter-Strike: Global Offensive major. The Challengers Stage has been reduced to just four days, now running between August 23 and 26. The original schedule for the event had this stage listed as a six-day tournament. Meanwhile the Legends Stage of the competition will now be held between August 28 and September 1, …
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.
