Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Denis ditches Sprout, joins BIG as former star Nex heads to bench
Steven Rondina
The German Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene has received a new shakeup. Denis “denis” Howell is splitting off from Sprout after an 18-month run with the team to join fellow German organization BIG. The news was confirmed by all parties on Twitter. “Today it’s time to say goodbye to Denis, who has been part of Sprout from day one,” Sprout announced on Twitter. “But our ways part from now on even …
Counter-Strike
Complexity Gaming announce MillerCoors as newest sponsor
Olivia Richman
Complexity Gaming has announced a new strategic partnership with MillerCoors. Thanks to the new partnership with MillerCoors, the brewing company known for its alcoholic beverage brands, Miller Lite will now be the exclusive alcoholic beverage of Complexity Gaming. The esport organization’s chief revenue officer, Daniel Herz, said they couldn’t be more excited to welcome MillerCoors to the Complexity family. He stated that both the esports organization and the beverage giant …
Counter-Strike
CS:GO update brings big changes for esports fans and in-game economy
Steven Rondina
The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive development team has been hard at work in recent weeks. The latest CS:GO patch has dropped, bringing a host of new features, balance changes, and map updates. It’s an incredibly hefty patch that offers something of interest to any sort of fan of the game. The biggest change for esports fans is a greater integration of professional events into the game client. A list of upcoming …
Counter-Strike
S1mple chews out racist teammate during a live Twitch stream
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has a racism problem, and at least one pro player isn’t standing for it. During a recent Twitch stream, Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev ripped into a teammate for an inappropriate in-game handle. The pub game interaction was clipped and immortalized: While playing a pub game on Vertigo, S1mple was paired with a teammate whose handle was “Kill All N—-rs” with a small misspelling to get around Steam’s filters. …
Counter-Strike
OG, NiP eliminated from Disneyland Major with heads held high
Steven Rondina
Two more Dota 2 teams were robbed of a fairy tale ending at the MDL Disneyland Paris Major. OG and Ninjas in Pyjamas have been booted from the tournament. They share a fifth-place finish and leave with $60,000 and 900 Dota Pro Circuit points. European rival Team Liquid got the better of OG in their series in the lower bracket. The first two games were incredibly tight, with OG and …
Counter-Strike
Hiko is now a free agent as contract with Rogue Gaming ends
Olivia Richman
Spencer “Hiko” Martin is officially a free agent. The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player announced his new status on Twitter. Hiko is no longer contracted to Rogue Gaming, where he played for about three years. This news come after Rogue shocked the community by leaving the CSGO scene over a month ago. The organization pointed towards “roster instability” as the main issue leading to its exit from the first-person shooter. The …
Counter-Strike
Heroic benches Mertz from roster, adds NaToSaphiX from LPSP
Steven Rondina
Heroic has had a rough month and is making some changes to its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster as a result. The team announced on Twitter that Daniel “mertz” Mertz has been deactivated from the team’s active roster. Heroic then announced that Niels Christian “NaToSaphiX” Sillassen has been added to the lineup to replace him. “I’ve been staying patient for a few months now, but it’s time to get back on …
Counter-Strike
CSGO streamer Anomaly accidentally shows gun on live stream
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive streamer Ludvig “Anomaly” Lagerstedt was casually discussing his computer specs when a viewer noticed something a bit more out of the ordinary. Donning his CS:GO terrorist mask, Anomaly continued reading his Twitch chat out loud on his live stream. “‘Why is there a gun on your desk?'” he read. “There is not…” But then Anomaly looked over and immediately spotted the handgun. He snatched it off his …
US senator introduces bill to ban loot boxes in video games
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
The creeping international legislation against loot boxes has finally reached American shores. According to a report from Kotaku, US Senator Josh Hawley has introduced “The Protecting Children from Abusive Games Act,” a bill that takes aim at loot boxes and microtransactions. If passed, this carries serious consequences for the video game industry. “When a game is designed for kids, game developers shouldn’t be allowed to monetize addiction,” the Republican from …
Shroud returns to CS:GO and gets a shockingly low ranking
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Michael “shroud” Grzesiek got quite a surprise when he returned to playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The former Cloud9 player decided to return to his old stomping grounds and play some competitive games during streams. Though he remains a sharpshooter and demonstrated the same skills that made him a top star from 2014 to 2017, he was given a bit of a surprise when he was slapped with a relatively low …
Ballistic Shield returns to CS:GO’s Danger Zone with latest patch
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
The Ballistic Shield has made its return to Counter-Strike. In the Danger Zone. Introduced in the original Counter-Strike but removed in Counter-Strike: Source, the shield is now available as an upgrade item in Global Offensive’s battle royale mode. The item retains some of its functions from the previous games, but is still quite different from the original. Unlike in 1.6, the Ballistic Shield is not used as a primary weapon …
Denmark prime minister visits and plays CS:GO with Astralis
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said that 96 percent of all Danish boys play video games at least twice a week. And now Rasmussen can count himself as a gamer, too. The Prime Minister visisted Denmark-based Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team Astralis’ headquarters and played some games with them. This was part of the Ministry of Culture’s continued efforts to support the esports industry and break stereotypes about what it …
Natus Vincere announce Esports Camp, search for new junior roster
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
Natus Vincere is now accepting applications to its Esports Camp. The top ten most outstanding applicants will be selected to take part in the bootcamp experience. Starting in June, those ten players will train and compete in an Esports Camp until five players emerge as having the most potential. These five players will be signed to Na’Vi Junior’s roster. Former HellRaisers coach Amiran “aMi” Rehviashvili has been hired by Na’Vi …
Team Liquid comes through in a final and wins IEM Sydney
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Team Liquid is has finally broken its finals curse at one of the biggest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournaments of the year. North America’s finest took first place at Intel Extreme Masters XIV Sydney. The team captured gold by last defeating Fnatic, capping an almost perfect run through the event. The grand finals kicked off on Cache with a huge win for Fnatic. Spurred on by strong efforts from Ludvig “Brollan” …
ATK crush, Virtus.pro come up clutch in Winners League Season 2
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Winners League Season 2’s group stage is officially past the halfway point and we’re starting to see teams make a push for a spot in the playoffs. Both divisions have an intriguing mix of recognizable names and fresh blood topping their groups, but few of them are topped by those teams that were expected to dominate. A lot of intriguing new teams have been flexing their muscles throughout the season, …
Virtus.pro signs another new player after veteran byali steps down
Olivia Richman
News
Virtus.pro has announced that Michal “OKOLICIOUZ” Glowaty will be joining its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster. The Polish-German player has been a part of Virtus.pro as a stand-in before. This included taking on Izako Boars in the Polish Championship. Now, he is joining Virtus.pro for active competition in both ESEA MDL Season 31 Europe and Kalashnikov Cup Season 2. Before coming back to Virtus.pro, OKOLICIOUZ has been playing for EURONICS since the …
CS:GO Danger Zone gets massive update bringing new weapons and map
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
While it felt like Valve’s battle royale experiment had been swept under the rug for a time, the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive development team has apparently been toiling away on a major update. Big changes have arrived to CS:GO’s Danger Zone. A new patch has dropped for the game mode, bringing with it a new map, new items, and multiple UI changes. They combine to make for a very different Danger …
New teams take over the standings in latest Winners League action
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Winners League Season 2 is now at the halfway point of its group stage, and the hierarchy between teams is beginning to manifest. The early favorites to dominate have looked solid. Teams like Virtus.pro and Lazarus Esports sport winning records and seem to be strong candidates to make the playoffs. But it’s the new teams like Polar Ace Esports and Royal that have really looked best to this point. This …
Byali steps down from Virtus.pro, team announces replacement
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Paweł “byali” Bieliński is stepping away from Virtus.pro. According to a report from Cybersport.pl, the longtime member of the iconic Polish team is stepping down. The cause is frustration over Virtus.pro’s struggles to this point in 2019, as well as his own in-game stumbles since returning to the team’s active roster in November. Byali was a member of Virtus.pro’s dynasty years, which lasted from 2014 until 2017 with highlights including …
ESL Pro League updates relegation system across all regions
William Davis
Counter-Strike
Tournament organizer ESL has updated the relegation system for its ESL Pro League in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive across all competing regions. The ESL Pro League recently changed its format to include more teams in Europe, the Americas, and in the Asia-Pacific region. Sixteen teams are taking part in the group stage for each region, with the top squads moving directly to the next stage of the event while the bottom …
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
Swag swaggers and Vegi comes up big for Virtus.pro in Winners League
By
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
FaZe Clan adds former Virtus.pro legend Neo to team, replacing AdreN
By
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
ENCE break the Astralis Nuke streak, win BLAST Pro Series Madrid
By
Steven Rondina
