History of Counter-Strike

Introduction

When it comes to esports and cyberathletes, the game CS gets mentioned pretty often. But why? Today I will be covering the history of the game, helping you understand the major influence of it through its early mod origins and modern competitive scene.

Early origins (1999–2000)

It all started in 1999. Gooseman, a Canadian college student, started modding Quake. Later, he teamed up with Jess Cliffe, voice of the original Counter-Strike announcer. Counter-Strike started out as a Half-Life mod.

During 1999, Counter-Strike was released as a beta 1.0 version, developed by Gooseman. Later, during beta 4.0, they introduced the bomb-defusal mechanic shifting from hostage-rescue only to core CS gameplay.

On November 9th 2000 CS was released officially for Windows, with Valve purchasing the rights and hiring the two mods.

Timeline of major releases

In 2000, CS 1.0 was released as the first ever retail version for Windows only. Then, in 2003, Steam debuted, which enabled automatic updates and replaced manual patch downloads. CS 1.6 also released in 2003 as the final release, becoming the standardized version. The term “CS 1.6” is coined.

By March 2004, CS Condition Zero became a poorly received single campaign, CS Source adding new graphics, rag-doll physics and import-your-own-pictures, although it had competitive issues.

2006 came with weekly dynamic weapon price changing, although it was a quickly discarded concept because of community backlash. 2010 came with tracking top players and 2011 came out with “CS2”, which isn’t fully acknowledged as the second game. People often call it CS3 as it marks the shift towards the CS ecosystem.

CS:GO

During 2012, CS:GO beta received poor reviews, with the game releasing in August of the same year. Some core updates were weapon skins and cases, with the CZ75-Auto ($400 gun) being the controversial weapon at the time. It got nerfed heavily in December 2014.

The final year of CS:GO was 2023, starting the transition to the official CS2.

CS2

With CS2 rising, we got our rising star – Donk. The 17-year-old who terrorized the whole scene with his skill, getting accusations of cheating. S1mple, an old star of CS, returns as well.

Conclusion

With games like CS, us, as a society, learn that hobbies can in fact become a way to make money. Other hobbies besides gaming that do the same thing could be art, music, writing and studying. Anything can become a way to earn a living with enough dedication, even earning a history and reputation.