CS: GO: Chronicles of an immortal game

Today, e-sports are considered a major source of entertainment and one of the games that has shaped the industry in a big way and helped it reach its current heights is Counter-Strike: Global Offensive or, as fans call it, CS: GO.

CS: GO transcends the conventional gaming experience, as affirmed by its players, who describe it as "more than just a game". Now, the game is all set for the next step of its journey as it relaunches itself with a fresh coat of paint in the form of Counter-Strike 2. 

To mark the launch of this new iteration of this beloved classic, let us take a journey through the game's storied history. 

The roots

The franchise was born when a group of modders created a mod for Half-Life, a popular first-person shooter. The mod, then named 'Counter-Strike,' created an entirely new community for the game. 

In 2000, Valve acquired rights to it and so the franchise's first-ever game, 'Counter-Strike 1.0' was born. The game has not looked back ever since and has become a dominant force in e-sports.

CS: GO was released 11 years ago, on 21 August 2012. After 'Counter-Strike: Source' succeeded, Global Offensive had to fill in big shoes. CS: Source had a competitive journey throughout the years, and people were expecting a similar game from Valve, which would also be player-friendly.

The game contained precise shooting mechanics, tactical espionage, strategic options, a new environment and many other cool features. 

Although the game's nature was easily understandable, similar to 'CS: Source', it took hundreds of hours for a player to master the mechanics. An exciting feature of the game was its unorthodox weapon skin collections and other featured items like coins, pins and multiple operation projects. 

Although these made the game great, they also led to multiple issues, like accounts being hacked or banned for no reason, scams, etc. Also, the 'anti-cheat' system in the game was not very good either. These obstacles made the game's future uncertain.
 

The e-sports explosion

The game's popularity as an e-sport reached new heights when Valve Corporation announced the first-ever gaming tournament, CS: GO Major, at DreamHack Winter 2013 in Sweden. The competition brought CS: GO the momentum it needed to become one of the best multiplayer games in the world. 

Such events allowed the teams to shine on a global stage through teamwork and better tactics. Teams like Fnatic, Virtus Pro, Astralis, Natus Vincere became top-tier CS: GO teams, featuring players like Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev, Nikola 'niko' Kovac, Kenny 'kennyS' Schrub and many more. These players became the faces of CS: GO. 

User numbers started to rise as such tournaments marketed the game even more. From 2014 to 2018, the user number and total hours played went up exponentially, but suddenly declined since 2018 due to cheating scandals. However, CS: GO reached its peak user number again during the pandemic years.

The rivals

'Dota 2' and 'League of Legends' were always compared with 'CS: GO' as its e-sporting rivals. But its arch-rival had yet to come out. 

On 2 June 2020, a first-person tactical hero shooter, 'Valorant', was launched. It was quite similar to CS: GO in terms of mechanics and gameplay, but the vibe, maps and other features were quite unique. 

'Valorant' can be termed as "so similar yet so different." Valorant's main draws were its gunplay and stringent anti-cheat system, which were unique compared to CS: GO. 

As a result, the gaming community got hooked and started to play it. In a short time, tournaments on Valorant were held and many switched to it from CS: GO. 

But CS: GO still had many players due to superior mechanics to Valorant. CS: GO's vibrant in-game marketplace was also a draw for many. 

CS: GO in Bangladesh

E-sports have gained quite a lot of popularity in our country. The latest premiere e-sports competition in our country, D1 Cup: The Nation's Premier Esports Tournament, has reached new milestones. 

In the case of CS: GO, different national e-sports organisers from 2015 hosted multiple LAN tournaments. 

Celebrities like Rafsan the Chotobhai also competed in professional CS: GO tournaments. 

CS: GO today and the future of Counter Strike 2

The e-sports gaming industry has come a long way and CS: GO has been big for a long time. Valve recently decided to launch a new Counter-Strike game called 'Counter-Strike: 2.0'. 

This game, released on 27 September, is mostly identical to CS: GO but features higher graphics quality, different weapon mechanics, and new maps. 

This also means that CS: GO's servers have now shut down. You can no longer play on CS: GO's servers or use its matchmaking system. But CS2 has breathed new life into the Counter-Strike franchise, with old players transitioning into the new release as well as new players jumping onboard to see what all the fuss is about.