Hector “H3CZ” Rodriguez, the newly minted co-CEO of NRG Esports, has given his thoughts on how he would improve the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive esports scene.
Before joining NRG Esports, H3CZ spent over a decade as the CEO of OpTic Gaming. He decided to leave the organization earlier this month and joined up with NRG Esports shortly thereafter.
H3CZ discussed CSGO on the latest installment of “The Eavesdrop Podcast” with Counter-Strike Professional Players’ Association advisor and enduring esports figure Scott “SirScoots” Smith.
After discussing some other matters, the conversation turned to how improvements can be made to Counter-Strike as an esport. H3CZ initially focused on the welfare of players, and how many compete on an agonizingly frequent basis.
“I think the problem with Counter-Strike right now is the amount of games that are going. It’s difficult and tough for the players though too right, with weekend after weekend after weekend,” H3CZ said. “What kind of lifestyle is that for a player? Let’s think bigger, how do we make Counter-Strike continue to be exciting? It’s not by watching Astralis vs. Team Liquid week after week.”
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H3CZ’s discussion on CSGO esports comes at an awkward time as NRG Esports is currently without a CSGO team due to the roster’s sudden departure. The team left for Evil Geniuses earlier this week and have looked rock solid at ESL One New York in their first outing for the iconic brand.Â
Still, his points were valid and SirScoots added to this by discussing Astralis.
The Danish team won its fourth major earlier this month, but entered the event as something of a villain as fans complained about their less-active schedule, something Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen opened up on with WIN.gg following the event. The results speak for themselves though, and SirScoots suggested that other players would benefit by taking that approach.
“I think how you fix it is players having agency where they go, players working out that if they go to every event they aren’t going to win any of them,” he said.
Counter-Strike has long had an incredibly crowded tournament calendar, a fact that has seen many high-end teams scrambling around the globe in order to play in as many events as possible. Teams, players, and tournament organizers have all started taking measures to address this and that will hopefully make for a more sustainable CSGO scene.
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