The Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) was a professional sports tournament organization specializing in computer and console video game competitions. It was founded by Angel Munoz on June 27, 1997, in Dallas, Texas. The CPL is considered the pioneer in professional video game tournaments, which have been held worldwide. The CPL's tournaments are open to all registrants, but due to the ESRB content rating of some video games, CPL competitions are restricted to participants age 17 or older. The CPL has distributed more than US$3 million in cash prizes.
Emil Pathric William Christensen, also known as HeatoN, is an esports manager and former Swedish professional Counter-Strike player, formerly playing as captain of the gaming team Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP). HeatoN was the manager of NiP up until October 2018 when he decided to part ways with the organisation to focus on his own brand. He is widely considered one of the best Counter-Strike players of all time.
SK Gaming is a professional esports organization based in Germany that has teams across the world competing in different titles. SK is particularly known for their success in Counter-Strike (CS) tournaments. SK's Brazilian CS team won the ESL One Cologne 2016 Major. SK currently has players and teams competing in League of Legends and Hearthstone. SK Gaming was founded in 1997 by a small group of Quake players in Oberhausen, making it the oldest esports organization in the world.
Kyle Miller, better known as Ksharp, is a retired esports player who played Counter-Strike 1.6, Counter-Strike Source, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. At the peak of Miller's career he played for Team 3D.
The World Cyber Games 2005 was held in Singapore at Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre from 16 to 20 November 2005. There were over 800 players from 67 countries. Over 39,000 spectators turned up at the games to cheer for the players. The combined prize pool for the games was US$435,000.
Matt Leto, known by the gamer tag Zyos, is a former American professional player of the first-person shooter video games Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2. Zyos spent a year in his late teens accumulating video game records, and for a while was the holder of the most records. After dropping out of DigiPen Institute of Technology, Leto pursued a career in professional gaming.
MTw, formerly known as Team NoA, was a professional Counter-Strike team. Founded by Jonas "bsl" Alsaker, the team was regarded as the world's best several times, taking home many prestigious "trophies". They were the first professional e-sports team to consist of members from multiple continents when they formed the team from highly experienced players from Norway, Canada and United States. They were also the first e-sports team ever to pay for a player transfer out of a contract when they bought Ola "element" Moum out of his contract with SK Gaming.
EFGaming was a professional gaming organization for Counter-Strike: Source, formed in December 2005 by former Check-Six (x6) / PowersGaming members. Considered by many as the top Counter-Strike: Source team in North America, they won many LAN tournaments, with most recent the "Ryu LAN Event", November 2006. In April 2008 most of EFGaming went to the San Francisco Optx of the Championship Gaming Series. The team was named after the daughter of one of the team's managers. Matthew "Erd" Grover wrote a letter of resignation on their website in 2008, stating that they were not planning to continue EFGaming activities under that name.
World Series of Video Games (WSVG) was an international professional electronic sports competition. It held its first season in 2006, with competitions in six different games and six events held around the world including the finals of the event. The total prize purse of the season was US$750,000 which includes the $240,000 prize purse that was winnable at the finals. The WSVG was operated by Games Media Properties, an American gaming company founded in 2002 with the BYOC Lan section subcontracted out to Lanwar Inc.
The G7 Teams or G7 Federation was an association of professional esports teams. It was originally formed by seven teams in 2006: 4Kings, fnatic, Made in Brazil, mousesports, Ninjas in Pyjamas, SK Gaming and Team 3D. At its dissolution, the organization was made up of six members. The organization aimed to promote the interest of the community and players to tournament organizers, sponsors, and other professional gaming institutions. The G7 teams had active presence in the advisory boards for both the World Series of Video Games and KODE5, and has relations with other tournament organizations, including the Cyberathlete Professional League, along with its players committee, and the Electronic Sports World Cup. The G7 teams also recognized in Zonerank as the official world esports rankings. In 2010, after a contract dispute between fnatic and SK Gaming, the organization dissolved.
The Championship Gaming Series (CGS) was a professional esports league based in the United States, that operated from 2007 to 2008. It was a global league that featured teams representing cities from around the world. The CGS aimed to bring a traditional sports league format to competitive gaming, with teams, franchises, and a regular season leading to playoffs and a championship. The CGS was preceded by the 2006 Championship Gaming Invitational, a television pilot featuring several future CGS players. The league was founded in 2007 and was owned and operated by DirecTV in association with British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) and STAR TV. Games played in the CGS included titles such as Counter-Strike: Source, FIFA, Dead or Alive 4, Project Gotham Racing 3, and Forza Motorsport 2. The league had a television broadcast deal, and matches were aired on various networks. Despite initial hype and investment, the CGS faced financial challenges and eventually ceased operations in 2008.
Mouz, formerly mousesports, is a professional esports organisation based in Germany. It fields teams in several games but is particularly known for its CS:GO team. MOUZ was one of the founding members of the G7 Teams. MOUZ's League of Legends team currently competes in the ESL Pro Series, having formerly competed in the European Challenger Series.
Ronald "Ron" Kim, known professionally as Rambo, is a former professional electronic sports player who competed in Counter-Strike for Team 3D and Los Angeles Complexity. He is a content creator and owner of FPS Coach, which offers training for first-person shooter titles.
In 2008, the Championship Gaming Series began its second season as a worldwide sports league for professional video gamers. A total of 18 teams representing cities in seven countries played in the league. The games supported included Counter-Strike: Source, Dead or Alive 4, FIFA 08, and Forza Motorsport 2.
JaX Money Crew (JMC) was an American professional esports team that had players competing in Counter-Strike 1.6 and FIFA 07. They competed under the name Dallas Venom as a franchise of the DirecTV Championship Gaming Series in 2007 and 2008. Afterwards with the same Counter-Strike roster it reverted to the name Jax Money Crew. The manager of the team was Alex "Jax" Conroy who founded the team while living in Southport, Connecticut.
Tom Ryan, known under the pseudonym Ogre 2, is a retired professional Halo player from Columbus, Ohio. He is widely considered to be the greatest Halo player of all time. He and his twin brother Dan are known as the "Ogre Twins". In 2005, the Ogre Twins won the gold medal in Halo 2 at the World Cyber Games. His esports tournament history includes in Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Shadowrun, Halo 3, Halo: Reach, Halo 4, Halo 5: Guardians, Halo 2: Anniversary, and Call of Duty: Ghosts.
Final Boss was a professional esports team that competed in Halo competitions sponsored by Major League Gaming (MLG) and other tournaments. With its most successful lineups consisting of a core of Dan "Ogre 1" Ryan, Tom "Ogre 2" Ryan and Dave "Walshy" Walsh, Final Boss is regarded as one of the best Halo teams of all time due to their numerous tournament victories and MLG National Championships from 2004 to 2010. They also hold the record for the longest consecutive event winning streak, with 8 straight tournament victories from 2005 into 2006.
Str8 Rippin is a professional Halo team in the United States that competes in the Halo Championship Series. Str8 Rippin was first formed in 2005 for Halo 2 on the Major League Gaming (MLG) Pro Circuit. Their most successful period was during the MLG Halo 3 Pro Circuit, when they won several tournaments. Tom "Tsquared" Taylor was their longtime captain and was considered the face of the team for several years.
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, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero (CS:CZ), Counter-Strike: Source (CS:S) and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO). Major esports championships began in 2001 with the Cyberathlete Professional League Winter Championship, won by Ninjas in Pyjamas.
