Originally formed in 2000, Ninjas in Pyjamas entry into Counter-Strike: Global Offensive would mark the third iteration of the Ninjas in Pyjamas brand and the start of one of the legendary Counter-Strike franchises of the era. Once sporting a roster full of famous names like Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund, Patrick “f0rest” Lindberg, Richard “Xizt” Langström, Adam “friberg” Friberg, and Robin “Fiflaren” Johansson, the Ninjas are one of the most recognizable brands in esports.
The original Ninjas lineup set the record for consecutive map wins without a loss when the team went 87-0 over 2012 and 2013. Virtus.pro broke the Ninjas in Pyjamas map win streak at StarSeries Season V, defeating NiP 2-0. Despite the loss, the Ninjas saw continued success in 2013, winning StarSeries Season VI and ESEA’s Invite Season 4. The team would add several more tournament wins to their trophy case between spring 2013 and the summer of 2014, cementing them as one of the best teams in the early days of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
The team’s success culminated in the Ninjas in Pyjamas first CSGO Major win at ESL One Cologne 2014. NiP won a close grand finals against fellow CSGO legends Fnatic, but 2015 became a time of change for the organization. After a series of group stage exits and overall poor performances following Cologne, Fifflaren left the Ninjas in Pyjamas.
The team cycled through several players in Fifflaren’s spot, including Mikail “Maikelele” Bill, Marcus “Delpan” Larsson, and Aleksi “allu” Jalli. Despite the changes, NiP continued to perform well. The team made the grand finals of the CSGO Major ESL One Katowice 2015, but failed to win the event. After the second-place finish, NiP announced the departure of Ninja’s coach Faruk “pita” Pita for Joona "natu" Leppänen and allu. natu was replaced by Björn "THREAT" Pers as the new coach, while allu’s AWPing role was taken over by Jacob "pyth" Mourujärvi.
Following the change, problems arose for NiP at the MLG Columbus 2016 Major. Pyth faced visa issues and was unable to attend the event, forcing THREAT to take NiP’s fifth spot at Columbus. Even with THREAT playing in Pyth’s place, the team attained Legends status by making the top eight before a playoff exit. The team’s performance dipped at the next Major, ESL One Cologne 2016, resulting in a group stage exit.
In 2017, a series of poor performances would start a chain reaction that culminated in the departure of three of the roster’s core players. The team missed its first CSGO Major in its history after a 16-2 loss to Vega Squadron in the ELEAGUE Atlanta 2017 Major Qualifiers. Two more poor performances led the organization to replace Pyth with William “draken” Sunden. The change had little effect on the team's results as it once again failed to qualify for a Major prior to PGL Krakow 2017.
In July 2017, NiP brought in Fredrick “REZ” Sterner while moving friberg to the bench. The team faced a massive loss to Vega Squadron at the ELEAGUE Boston Major European Minor qualifiers, but the Ninjas would win IEM Oakland 2017 in October.
The Ninjas started 2018 by benching Xizt replacing him with former Fnatic member Dennis “dennis” Edman. After missing three consecutive majors, the Ninjas in Pyjamas returned to the circuit at the FACEIT London Major, going 3-0 in the New Challengers stage.The team went 2-3 in the New Legends stage and attained a New Challenger invite for IEM Katowice 2019.
The team showed improvement with a roster that consisted of GeT_RiGhT, f0rest, dennis, REZ, and Jonas “Lekro” Olofsson, ending 2018 by making it to the finals of BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen 2018 before losing to Natus Vincere.
2019 was a year in which NiP saw continued improvement as they made the playoffs of IEM Katowice. In spite of these results, dennis was replaced on the roster by Nicolas Gonzalez "Plopski" Zamora as rumors circulated that GeT_RiGhT’s time on the team were coming to an end.
After the 2019 StarLadder Berlin Major, GeT_RiGhT left the Ninjas in Pyjamas organization and became a free agent. His replacement, Simon "twist" Eliasson, joined Ninjas in Pyjamas the next day. After GeT_RiGhT’s departure, NiP saw mixed results that included a second-place finish at BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen 2019 followed by a fifth-place finish at ECS Season 10 Finals.
