Counter-Strike in esports

Last updated
Counter-Strike
MLG Columbus - Luminosity vs Navi.jpg
Luminosity Gaming competing against Natus Vincere at the MLG Columbus 2016
Highest governing body Valve
First played2000
Characteristics
Type Video game, esports
Equipment computer, mouse, keyboard, headphones

Professional Counter-Strike competition involves professional gamers competing in the first-person shooter game series Counter-Strike . The original game, released in 1999, is a mod developed by Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess Cliffe of the 1998 video game Half-Life , published by Valve. Currently, the games that have been played competitively include Counter-Strike (CS also called CS 1.6), Counter-Strike: Condition Zero (CS:CZ), Counter-Strike: Source (CS:S), Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), and Counter-Strike 2 (CS2). Major esports championships began in 2001 with the Cyberathlete Professional League Winter Championship, won by Ninjas in Pyjamas. [1] [2]

Contents

History

The Counter-Strike series has over 20 years of competitive history beginning with the original Counter-Strike. Tournaments for early versions of the game have been hosted since 2000, but the first prestigious international tournament was hosted in Dallas, Texas at the 2001 Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) Winter Championship, won by the Swedish team Ninjas in Pyjamas. The tournament offered a $150,000 prize pool and became known as the first "Major". [1] The final significant update to the original Counter-Strike game was version 1.6 in 2003, and so the game became known as Counter-Strike 1.6 ("CS 1.6").

2001 Winter CPL Counter-Strike tournament Cplwinter2001.jpg
2001 Winter CPL Counter-Strike tournament

In 2002, the World Cyber Games became the next tournament to host competitive Counter-Strike, followed by the Electronic Sports World Cup in 2003. These, along with the bi-annual CPL tournaments, were the dominant Majors of CS 1.6 through 2007. CPL ceased operation in 2008, but another league, ESL, then added Counter-Strike to its Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) series. These tournaments continued for four years. [1] The years of 2002-07 are considered Counter-Strike's first Golden Age, as the game's popularity and market-share eclipsed all others in the fledgling esports industry.[ citation needed ]

Valve struggled to iterate and evolve on CS 1.6 because of its high skill ceiling and gameplay. The Counter-Strike Xbox release had limited success as compared to that of Halo and Call of Duty . The first official sequel was Counter-Strike: Source (CS:S), released on November 1, 2004. The game was criticized by the competitive community, who believed the game's skill ceiling was significantly lower than that of CS 1.6. This caused a divide in the competitive community as to which game to play competitively. [3] Valve, sponsors, and tournament organizers were advocating for the newer CS:S to be played at tournaments, but the large majority of professional CS players refused to play it due to its perceived shortcomings.[ citation needed ]Counter-Strike esports gradually decreased in popularity during the late 2000s and early 2010s. This was in part due to the fractured competitive scene, but also due to the newcomer MOBA genre overcoming Counter-Strike's previous stranglehold on the team-based esport market.

The release of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) in 2012 reunited the competitive community of Counter-Strike, ushering in a new era of esports relevance for the franchise. Initially, the game was criticized for imbalanced gameplay, poor mechanics and bugs. However, within several months the gameplay improved after updates from Valve. The advent of video game streaming services such as UStream, Justin.tv and Twitch increased the popularity of competitive Counter-Strike. On September 16, 2013, Valve announced a US$250,000 community-funded prize pool for its first CS:GO Major Championship; the money was funded through the "Arms Deal" update, which created in-game cosmetics that players could purchase. Valve also announced that the first Major would take place in Sweden at DreamHack Winter 2013. [1] The Valve-sponsored Majors would go on to be the most important and prestigious tournaments in the Global Offensive esports scene.

In October 2015, a number of professional esports organizations with Counter-Strike teams announced the formation of a trade union that set several demands for future tournament attendance. The announcement was a publicly posted email written by Alexander Kokhanovsky, CEO of Natus Vincere, that was sent to organizers of major esports events. Teams that were part of the union included Natus Vincere, Team Liquid, Counter Logic Gaming, Cloud9, Virtus.pro, Team SoloMid, Fnatic, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Titan and Team EnVyUs. Teams in this union would not attend Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournaments with prize pools of less than $75,000. [4] In 2016, the World eSports Association (WESA) was founded by ESL with many esports teams, including Fnatic, Natus Vincere, Team EnVyUs and FaZe Clan, [5] though FaZe Clan left soon after the league's formation. [6] In its announcement, WESA said it would "further professionalize eSports by introducing elements of player representation, standardized regulations, and revenue sharing for teams". They also planned to help fans and organizers by "seeking to create predictable schedules." [5]

Valve's decisions have a strong influence on the competitive metagame. Decisions such as the removal of old maps and additions of new maps are often met with criticism, as well as changes made to certain weapons' performance characteristics. In 2016, Valve was "heavily criticized" for the removal of the map Inferno and its replacement, Nuke, in the competitive map pool. [7] [8] The release of CS 1.6 in 2003 saw a contentious nerf of the iconic AWP sniper rifle by increasing its draw time. This significantly reduced the ability of a player armed with an AWP to simultaneously engage multiple targets. The AWP was again the subject of a controversial nerf in 2015 when players' movement speed and acceleration was decreased while the weapon was equipped. Valve has also implemented new coaching rules restricting the ability of communication between coaches and players during a match, and altered a 15-year precedent by increasing the duration of each round and bomb timer in 2015. [9]

By 2014, 25 million copies of the Counter-Strike series were sold. The game's fan base remains strong, having reached a new record of 1.4 million concurrent players in March 2023, surpassing the game's previous record of 1.3 million concurrent players in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. [10] [2] [11]

On November 12, 2023, Perfect World announced the second Counter-Strike 2 Major, set for December 1-15, 2024, in Shanghai, marking the first Major in China. [12] [13] [14]

Tournament system

Counter-Strike tournaments can be hosted by any entity, and do not have a single official event organizer (like FIFA in football association, for example). The Major Championships, sponsored by Valve and held by different organizers twice a year, are the most prestigious tournaments, although they may not necessarily have the highest prizes. Most of the big teams compete, most of the time, in world tournaments that bring together teams from all corners of the world. [15] [16] Some of the most notable major tournaments are organized by ESL, such as the Intel Extreme Masters and ESL Pro League, and by BLAST, such as the BLAST Premier series. Tournaments that do not have a worldwide character are usually organized for teams of lower level, serving as qualifiers for the main tournaments. [17] [15]

Teams rankings are published by HLTV and ESL, who use various criteria to determine the best ranked teams from the most recent tournaments. Until 2025, these rankings were then used by some tournament organizers to directly invite teams, depending on their rank.

Valve tournament system (from 2025)

In 2023, Valve announced that starting in 2025, only the official Valve ranking system could be used to generate invitations, done to combat franchised systems like the ESL Pro Tour and BLAST Premier. The detailed system, unveiled in 2024, separates all non-Major tournaments into Tier 1, Tier 2, Wildcard and Unranked tournaments. [18]

Tier 1 tournaments

Tier 1 tournaments are the highest ranking non-Major events, typically consisting of the best teams in the world with a high prize pool. The top 16 teams (or a number 1.5 times that of the main tournament, whichever is higher) in the chosen Valve rankings are invited, with up to half of the final tournament's roster being filled by these invites and the rest of the teams entering a closed qualifier alongside open qualifiers and Tier 2 tournament winners from the past 6 months if needed. For every 8 teams in the main tournament, the organizer may invite two Wildcard teams in place of the bottom 2 Valve teams; these are teams that have won a Tier 1 tournament or have cores that previously were in Valve's top 8 in the past year. These events have the most impact on the Valve rankings.

For example, IEM Katowice and Cologne invite the top 8 teams in the global Valve standings straight to the group stage, while the next 16 teams enter the play-in, considered a closed qualifier, for the final 8 spots.

Tier 2 tournaments

Tier 2 tournaments are events with not as much status or prize money as their Tier 1 equivalents, and as such don't have the same impact on the Valve rankings. The top 8 teams in the chosen Valve rankings cannot be invited to these events, with all tournament organizers having to start from 9th in the rankings and work their way down. Regardless, organizers invite the number of teams equal to 1.5 times that of the final tournament. Up to half of the main tournament's spots can be filled by these invites, with the rest entering a closed qualifier with open qualifier teams if needed, like in Tier 1. Unlike their higher counterparts, organizers can filter invites based on team nationality or gender, but not to the point where specific teams are invited. As mentioned previously, Tier 2 event winners can be invited to Tier 1 closed qualifiers for up to 6 months after their win.

Wildcard tournaments

For every three Tier 1 events that an organizer runs, they can organize a Wildcard tournament, which are considered a special type of Tier 1 event. A tournament organizer has to declare which tournaments are connected to the Wildcard tournament, but can otherwise invite however many Wildcards they want and have them enter the main tournament. It is important to note that these Wildcards have to match the makeup of the organizer's qualifying Tier 1 tournaments. As an example, a tournament organizer with two European Tier 1 tournaments and two global Tier 1 tournaments must have half of their Wildcards be European Wildcards, with the rest being Global Wildcards. Organizers may also use the Valve rankings to invite more teams, which must follow the Tier 1 invite rules.

Unranked tournaments

Unranked tournaments let tournament organizers invite whoever they want to the main tournament or closed qualifiers, but do not contribute to the Valve rankings. These tournaments are also limited by prize pool, as no one tournament can exceed $100,000 and a tournament organizer can't have their overall unranked circuit go over $250,000 in a calendar year.

Media coverage

As the game and the scene grew in popularity, companies, including WME/IMG and Turner Broadcasting, began to televise Global Offensive professional games, with the first being ELEAGUE Major 2017, held at the Fox Theatre and broadcast on US cable television network TBS in 2016. [19] On August 22, 2018, Turner announced its further programming of Global Offensive with ELEAGUE’s Esports 101: CSGO and ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018's docuseries on TBS. [20] In 2019 Danish television station TV 2 secured exclusive TV rights to broadcast ESL Pro League and Dreamhack's ESL Pro Tour in Danish. [21] In 2023 TV 2 announced it would no longer broadcast Counter Strike from 2024 onwards citing a lack of commercial sustainability given free alternatives, such as Twitch, and the downturn in results from the Danish superteam Astralis leading to a decline in popularity within Denmark. [22]

Controversies

Cheating

Cheating, particularly through the use of software hacks on online servers, has been a problem throughout the history of Counter-Strike and generally results in a game ban if discovered. A Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) ban is the most common way in which players are banned. VAC is a system designed by Valve to detect cheats on computers. Any time a player connects to a VAC-secured server and a cheat is detected, the user is kicked from the server, given a permanent lifetime ban and barred from playing on any VAC-secured servers. [23] Professional players play online on independent platform servers hosted by leagues such as ESEA or Faceit, which have proprietary anti-cheat programs. [24]

Linus "b0bbzki" Lundqvist was the first known professional player to be banned in Global Offensive. Hovik "KQLY" Tovmassian was one of the highest-profile players to be issued a VAC ban. KQLY was banned, along with several other professional players, such as Gordon "Sf" Giry, while KQLY was playing for France's best team, Titan. [25] Vinicius “v$m” Moreira from Brazil was VAC-banned while he was playing for Detona Gaming. [26]

Cheating has also occurred at LAN tournaments, and players who cheat at organized tournaments may receive permanent bans or may be dismissed from their team. In 2018, at the eXTREMESLAND ZOWIE Asia CS:GO, Nikhil "forsaken" Kumawat of OpTic India was caught cheating mid-match using aimbot during a tournament game against Revolution, a Vietnamese Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team. [27] The tournament had a $100,000 prize pool. [28] OpTic India was disqualified and Kumawat was dismissed from the team. [29]

In 2020, the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) banned over 37 coaches [30] due to abuse of a spectator mode bug. Valve also has punished these coaches from a number of CS:GO Majors with the severity dependant on the number of times the bug was abused. [31]

On 15 April 2021, Valve updated event guidelines to allow players with VAC banned accounts to compete again in Valve sponsored events. [32] The updated rules state: A VAC ban will only disqualify a player from an event if it was either received fewer than 5 years prior, or if it was received at any time after their first participation in a Valve-sponsored event.

Match fixing

Players have also been banned for match fixing. In August 2014, two CS:GO teams, iBUYPOWER and NetcodeGuides.com, were involved in a match-fixing scandal that has been cited as "the first large match fixing scandal" in the CS:GO community. [33] iBUYPOWER, who was heavily favored to win, lost in a resounding 16-to-4 defeat to NetcodeGuides.com. It was later discovered in a tip to Dot Esports that the match was fixed. [34]

On 20 January 2021, the ESIC issued sanctions against 35 players for betting-related offences primarily in the Australian CS:GO scene. [35]

On 31 March 2021, ESIC Commissioner Ian Smith revealed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was now involved in the ongoing investigation into match-fixing in North American Counter-Strike, which has been underway since September 2020. [36] ESIC is collaborating with federal law enforcement as part of a larger investigation into players bribed to fix matches by outside "betting syndicates".

Gambling

Following the introduction of weapon skins into Global Offensive with the Arms Deal update in August 2013, a virtual economy formed around the skins based on rarity and desirability. Because of this, a number of skin-trading and gambling sites using the Steamworks API were created. Initially, these sites focused on wagering skins on the outcomes of professional and semi-professional CS:GO matches, in the vein of sports betting. However, some of these sites began to offer casino gambling functionality in 2015, allowing users to gamble their skins on the outcome of roulette spins, coin flips, dice rolls, and other games of chance. [37] [38] According to research firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, players and esports fans wagered $2.3 billion in 2015, [39] and $5 billion in 2016 [40] on CS:GO skins. In June and July of that year, two lawsuits were filed against specific gambling sites and Valve, arguing that Valve allowed their skins to be used for illegal underage gambling. [41] [42] Valve began to take steps to prevent these sites from using Steamworks for gambling purposes, and several of the sites ceased operating as a result. [43] In July 2018, Valve disabled the opening of containers in Belgium and the Netherlands after the in-game loot boxes appeared to violate Dutch and Belgium gambling laws. [44] However, some parties have tried to contest Valve's gambling rules. [45]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valve Anti-Cheat</span> Anti-cheat software

Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) is an anti-cheat tool developed by Valve as a component of the Steam platform, first released with Counter-Strike in 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Made in Brazil (esports)</span>

Made in Brazil, commonly referred as abbreviated name MIBR is a professional esports organization with players competing in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive,Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege and VALORANT. It was a member of the G7 Teams. MIBR was founded on March 1, 2003, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, when the Brazilian businessman Paulo Velloso decided to invest in his son's dream. The organization was dissolved in 2012, but announced it was making a return in March 2016, returning to active play years later in June 2018.

<i>Counter-Strike: Global Offensive</i> 2012 video game

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) is a 2012 multiplayer tactical first-person shooter developed by Valve and Hidden Path Entertainment. It is the fourth game in the Counter-Strike series. Developed for over two years, Global Offensive was released for OS X, PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360 in August 2012, and for Linux in 2014. In December 2018, Valve transitioned the game to a free-to-play model, focusing on revenue from cosmetic items.

ESL Gaming GmbH is a German esports organizer and production company that produces video game competitions worldwide. ESL was the world's largest esports company in 2015, and the oldest that is still operational. Based in Cologne, Germany, ESL has eleven offices and multiple international TV studios globally. ESL is the largest esports company to broadcast on Twitch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DreamHack Winter 2014</span> Counter-Strike video game championship

DreamHack Winter 2014 was the fourth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship, held from November 27–29, 2014 at Elmia in Jönköping. It was organized by DreamHack and sponsored by Valve. The tournament had a total prize pool of US$250,000. The eight quarter-finalists from the previous Major, ESL One Cologne 2014 received direct invitations, while qualifiers were held for the remaining spots.

olofmeister Swedish Counter-Strike player

Olof Kajbjer Gustafsson, better known as olofmeister, is a Swedish professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player for FaZe Clan. He has previously played for H2k, Absolute Legends, LGB eSports, Fnatic, and FaZe Clan. Gustafsson is widely regarded as one of the best CS:GO players in history. He has won two CSGO Majors, ESL One Katowice 2015 and ESL One Cologne 2015, as well as many other tournaments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LDLC OL</span>

LDLC OL was a French esports organization best known for its teams in Counter-Strike. The organization also sponsored teams in Fortnite Battle Royale, League of Legends, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and World Rally Championship.

kennyS French professional CS:GO player

Kenny Schrub, better known as kennyS, is a French former professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player. He was named "eSports Player of the Year" at The Game Awards 2015. He was considered the best sniper in the game, and Duncan Shields, a Counter-Strike analyst, has called him the best player in the game prior to the sniper being changed. Some of his previous teams include Titan, VeryGames, Team LDLC.com, Recursive eSports, Clan-Mystik, Team EnVyUs and G2 Esports. He was a professional Counter-Strike: Source player before transitioning to Global Offensive in 2012. Schrub announced his retirement from competitive Counter-Strike on May 20, 2023, before the semifinal between Team Vitality and Apeks at the Blast Paris Major in Paris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sgares</span> American electronic sports player

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flusha Swedish eSports player

Robin Rönnquist, better known as flusha, is a Swedish former professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player. He previously played for teams such as fnatic and Cloud9. flusha has won 3 CS:GO majors: Dreamhack Winter 2013, ESL One Katowice 2015 and ESL One Cologne 2015.

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The Counter-Strike match fixing scandal was a 2014 match fixing scandal in the North American professional scene of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO). It involved a match between two teams, iBUYPOWER and NetCodeGuides.com, where questionable and unsportsmanlike performance from the team iBUYPOWER, then considered the best North American team, drew suspicion, resulting in a loss for the team; allegations quickly surfaced afterwards that the match was fixed. More decisive evidence and punishments would come half a year later, after an expository article was published by esports journalist Richard Lewis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stewie2K</span> American streamer and esports player (born 1998)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018</span>

The ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018, also known as ELEAGUE Major 2018 or Boston 2018, was the twelfth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship and the second organized by ELEAGUE. The group stage was held in Atlanta, Georgia, United States from January 12 to January 22, 2018, and the playoff stage took place at the Agganis Arena in Boston, Massachusetts, United States from January 26 to January 28, 2018. It featured 24 professional teams from around the world, as ELEAGUE and Valve agreed to expand the Major from the usual 16. All 16 teams from the previous major, PGL Major: Kraków 2017, directly qualified for the Major, while another eight teams qualified through their respective regional qualifiers. Boston 2018 was the fifth consecutive Major with a prize pool of $1,000,000. This was also the first CS:GO Major to take place in two cities.

<i>Counter-Strike</i> Major Championships Valve-sponsored tournaments in Counter-Strike

Counter-Strike Major Championships, commonly known as the Majors, are Counter-Strike (CS) esports tournaments sponsored by Valve, the game's developer. The first Valve-recognized Major took place in 2013 in Jönköping, Sweden and was hosted by DreamHack with a total prize pool of US$250,000 split among 16 teams. This, along with the following 19 Majors, was played in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. As of the 2023 release of Counter-Strike 2 (CS2), Counter-Strike esports, including the Majors, are played in CS2.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esports Integrity Commission</span> Committee to investigate cheating in esports

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blast Paris Major 2023</span> Esports tournament

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  43. ↑ Sarkar, Samit (July 11, 2016). "How do Counter-Strike: Global Offensive skins work?". Polygon . Vox Media. Archived from the original on June 22, 2017. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
  44. ↑ Jones, Ali (July 13, 2018). "Valve disables CS:GO loot boxes in Belgium and the Netherlands". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on September 7, 2018. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  45. ↑ Sayer, Matt (8 July 2016). "The CS:GO gambling lawsuit against Valve is fundamentally flawed". PCGamer. Archived from the original on March 13, 2020. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
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