CS GO is the next big esport, and you better believe it.

For the last few months Counter Strike: Global Offensive has quickly crept up into the second place spot on Steam's Community Activity list, right behind DOTA 2. It's currently averaging around 170-180 thousand players during peak hours. On August 14th, it will be the one year anniversary of the Arms Deal update which first introduced skins into CS GO. Before that update, the game was averaging at 50 thousand players, and skins are one of the major causes for the dramatic uptick in the player base. Match-making is fantastic (now its super noob-friendly), the game is still constantly being tweaked to make it more competitive/balanced/interesting, and the entire thing is getting significantly better than the shoddy console port that Valve originally delivered.

Jeff claimed on the Bombcast that FPS games were not the future of esports because it has failed in the past - I posit that the FPS games that were on the market were just not suited for esports. The two main ones, Halo and COD, are not really symmetrical competitive games. COD is too fast paced and without stability in the map pool. Halo is killed by the new games constantly coming out that split the community, and especially because Microsoft isn't that interested in making it into an esport but a big media franchise. The other big FPS out there is the classic: CS 1.6. It's slower paced than COD, is pretty balanced and competitive, there is a map pool of about 5 maps that have never changed in the last ten years, and the rules/objectives are clear as hell.

There has been a thriving "esport" scene in CS 1.6 for a while, but it never seemed to catch on in the mainstream - why is that? The main reason is because 1.6 looks like garbage. Lets be honest, despite how fun 1.6 is, the average person sees a blockly, brown mess. My parents could not understand why I was stunned by Virtua Fighter when Street Fighter clearly looked better. Similarly, the mainstream just isn't interested in a game as old and crappy looking as CS 1.6.

CS GO has fixed this problem. It has most of the great things from CS 1.6, and updated graphics that look pretty realistic. CS GO also has one more draw for the esport scene, in that CS GO skins introduce the possibility of betting on competitive matches. Simply playing the game gives you skins, and literally anyone can bet using these skins. Like fantasy football, while you may not have any connection to the teams, your bet on them makes you care. (They just introduced fantasy teams for ESL Cologne)

CS GO also has a very low threshold for understanding the game. DOTA 2 is basically incomprehensible during the most important parts. A large number of people are turned away from just how fuckin complex DOTA and LoL are. Heartstone is similar, in that someone without any knowledge of the game won't understand whats going on. CS GO is different, mainly because it's so simple - terrorist have to plant the bomb in the A or B bombsite on the map, and counter-terrorists have to defend the sites. When big plays happen in DOTA, like "The Play," an outsider won't understand what the fuck is going on (I thought for the longest time that the team that does the wrap-around and lays down the sleep was Na'Vi, just because I didn't understand what the fuck was going on). When big plays happen in CS GO - like a 1v4 clutch - it's immediately understandable and looks great. Also, in DOTA 2 and LoL, some teams play with a style that leads to 30-40 minutes of nothing before big action late in the game. The rounds of CS ensure that every 3-4 minutes there is something exciting going on, and plays are happening constantly. In my mind, it's a bit more of consistent entertainment than other games. CS is a very tactical and strategic game with a lot of depth, but you don't need that understanding of the game to enjoy it.

Also, CS teams are very associated to nationalities. Unless it's Sweden, there are not many countries that can field more than one or two top teams. Poland has Virtus Pro; Germany has mousesports; Spain has OverGaming; Ukraine has Na'Vi and Hellraisers; France has Titan, Epsilon, and LDLC, Denmark has Dignitas, Austrailia has VOX, Norway has LC, and the US has Cloud 9 and iBuyPower. Sweden has a whole bunch, and England doesn't have any (lol). There is even a type of Counter Strike UEFA Euros, called ESEC, where Counter Strike teams of European nations battle for the top spot in Europe;

Finally, the scene around CS GO is very much connected to personalities. A lot of the most popular teams have players that put themselves out there. The most successful team in CS GO history, NiP has players that frequently take part in the Swedish scene, engaging with the public and players. The American teams, in particular Cloud 9, have a number of players that have made themselves successful twitch streamers through a mixture of good personality and skill. Ask anyone who watches CS GO esports, and they will be able to give you a favorite player, with an opinion that's not just based on in game performance but on other outside characteristics. Many Americans will tell you that n0thing is their favorite player, based on his vivacious and genuine personality in streams (and fuckin amazing skill in-game). Other Americans will tell you that Shroud or Hiko are their favorites based on their laid back personalities and un-godly aim. Most of the player's monikers aren't crazy or broish, and don't get in the way.

This year and a half there have been two $250,000 prize pool tournaments for CS GO - one at DreamHack, and one at EMS One Katowice. This 14th, the third $250,000 tournament will be held during Gamescom in Cologne. (All of these tournaments are community funded through the sale of "esports" keys for "esports" cases in CS GO.) According to Giantbomb's sister site, OnGamerz, there were over a million concurrent viewers of EMS One Katowice. Thursday's tournament in Cologne is poised to break those statistics. CS GO moved recently into the 4th most streamed game on Twitch, and while it probably won't be able to beat the other F2P games, the fact that it's so successful while still being a $15 dollar game is outstanding. Recently, the CS GO tournament in the Assembly lan party was broadcast on Finnish Television and 70,000 Finns tuned in. Shit's crazy.

Late last night, the CS GO devs rolled in a new feature that had been a part of DOTA, but was missing from CS GO. Remember how Brad lauds the DOTA 2 system of being able to watch competitive games with casting through the DOTA 2 client? Now you can do that in CS GO. GOTV, a way to watch CS GO games live through the client, has existed for a while, but only last night did they add the ability to hear the casters while in client. You can allow the caster to control the camera, or take direct control yourself and watch the game at your own will. This also removes a burden on people with low bandwidth, as Twitch is laggy for some people, and GOTV requires very little bandwidth. While this is definitely a trap - in that Valve will soon be selling tickets, we in the CS community will enjoy it while it lasts.

CS GO is on the up and up, and may really be the next big "esport." Valve execs have mentioned the possibility of a CS GO International type event, and I hope with all my might that happens.

If you think that FPS shooters are not a good viewing experience, then I beg of you to take some time and watch some of the ESL Cologne tournament on the 14-17 of this month. When run by the proper people and matched with great production values, CS GO is one of the most watchable esports out there, and requires almost no knowledge of the game to understand. It's full of thrill and action, upsets and comebacks, and it's great to see CS slowly claiming its spot at the top of the market. While DOTA 2 was always notched up to be Valve's big cash cow from the start, it's been fantastic watching a game that felt like a train wreck get transformed into this amazing success.

GOTV now has casters and stuff like Dota 2? Holy fuck. And yeah watching CSGO is really fun. Dota 2 is my favorite esport right now though, but CSGO has a lot more tense moments.

It sure has the potential and the scene has gotten a lot of recognition as of late. But if there is anything I have learned about e sports, it's that most of these popular games burn bright as the sun, but burn out faster than a match. I don't think it's going to be the next quake 3.

I just find dudes shooting other dudes really boring unless it's highly stylized, which isn't this game. Vanquish should be the next eSport.

You basically have echoed what I've been thinking for a while now, so I don't have much to add other than that I agree. It's kind of heartening to see CS continue to grow as someone who's played since 1.5ish and wants it to stick around. I can't wait for cologne in a few days.

Competitive Multiplayer Vanquish... Stop, you're going to make my heart burst.

@tothenines: You're definitely right in that most esports are major fads, but CS has been around for over 14 years now and there is still a very large "esports" community. CS is more like the slow burn of "esports," building its way up to the top over a long, long time.

Quake is the other FPS I thought about mentioning, but hell man, I bet if Quake got the CS GO treatment and there was some way to play with people your skill, it would also get pretty popular. Quake has the problem Gears of War 2 had, which was that there were people who were godly that would just rek you in pubs. For a new player it's super intimidating getting on a server and getting destroyed by people who have been playing the game for too long. But if there was a MM system, a lot people would get into it.

Quake Live had an MM system but nobody played that.

@corruptedevil: yo man, Quake Live is THE HOTTEST MULTIPLAYER FPS on the web.

Also, Vanquish esports will just end up with asians dominating the scene - remember when that dude wrecked the leaderboards.

I can buy CS: GO getting big. What I cannot buy yet is it ever being bigger than MOBAs in terms of being a spectator eSport.

Shooters just do not have a good camera angle that makes it a good spectacle for spectators. First person view just does not provide enough context for the viewer. Incomprehensibility to non players (e.g. American Football is virtually impenetrable if you never grew up with it) is not nearly as much of an issue as being able to see the action.

I also disagree about the value of "constant Action". Again to use the NFL, in Football it's been timed there is actually only roughly 11 minutes of live action (whistle to Whistle) in 4 hours. It's absolutely enormous, meanwhile Arena League football has comparatively constant scoring and it regularly struggle to continue to exist. Soccer/Football is absolutely huge despite having quite a few games with 6 goals scored or less.

My point is for plays to have meaning there has to be buildup and periods of inaction to establish their values. Contrast establishes significance. Constant action/scoring just ultimately becomes devalued and noise.

That's a real good point about betting though, I could see this getting absolutely huge in a different way as a result of that.

Really cool post though, I thought you made some great observation!

shooters will never be the next esport. they have tried over and over. a huge audience doesnt want to watch something run around and shoot somebody.

things like starcraft and dota work because of its perceived greater type of stregy involved. FPS are almost a pure reflex thing. what I mean by that is stregy isnt as much of a focus. not saying there isnt some invovleed but not on the same level.

the other thing is even with teams in CS or things like it its still can be perceived as very individualistic. DOTA has that team aspect that really clicks with people.

they have tried for years to make CS and COD etc popular in the esports community (on the same level as dota or LOL) and its yet to happen and i just dont think it will.

for me a lot of the attraction to starcraft, SF and DOTA is that complexity you spoke about. its the same reason i watch real sports: the repsdect for the people who are doing it because i know i could never do what they do. never felt that way about any fps.

CS is super fun though.

This game has been going for the last 15 years or something.........

In fact there is a lot of ignorance in general in this thread regarding cs. If you haven't played something i'm a firm believer you shouldn't comment regarding the intricacies of it.

Looks like there are a lot of people here who do not understand the depth behind CS that's developed over the past 15 years. There are several mechanics that aren't displayed out in the open and requires both knowledge and practice to understand and execute.

I absolutely love CS and have been playing on and off since 2005, but I honestly could never get into watching it. There is obviously strategy with positioning and buying, but it has never appealed to me in the same way that Starcraft and Dota 2 do. I agree with Jeff's opinion on the Bombcast that it is just boring watching guns on the screen shoot each other. And before you ask, yes, I actually did try to watch one of the big CS:GO tournaments earlier this year. My opinion is still the same after I watched a couple matches. The top-down perspective of Dota 2 plays a huge part from a spectating standpoint IMO.

I'm glad to see CS:GO as popular as it is though since I believe that CS has the best shooting model in any FPS ever. It is pretty crazy what Valve have been able to do with the game's popularity. I remember before CS:GO was even announced that there were about 50k people combined playing both 1.6 and CSS. That was still incredibly impressive for games that old, but now you have CS:GO almost hitting 200k concurrent players which is even crazier. I agree with the sentiment that if Quake was given to Valve they could make it just as popular. I still wouldn't care to watch Quake competitively either, but I would be all over that within a second.

What ever the next big e-sport is needs to actively avoid billing itself as an "e-sport" so that the term e-sports can PLEASE FUCKING DIE OH GOD IT'S THE WORST

Also, adding weapon skins really quadrupled the player base? Can somebody explain why?

I'd watch some competitive CS, the barrier to entry is so much lower than any MOBA. I think almost anyone who plays games can have an immediate, general grasp of what is happening in CS even if they've never played it before. Not to mention there isn't an entire lexicon of slang they need to learn just to be able to comprehend people talking about the game.

Fuck it, I'll reinstall CS:GO. Why not.

I totally agree. I think the appeal of CS is the absolutely massively high skill-ceiling. I mean, I've been playing CS since 2001 and even I still have a lot of improvement to do. Sure, I haven't spent 7 hours a day practicing the same moves over n over like the professionals are known to do, but I think that type of practice makes for more entertaining esports.. The sheer skill of those people is in itself interesting to behold.

And I'm sure proper spectator-friendly camera angles is something that the pro community is thinking hard about. Some people, like me, probably want to see the 1st person cams to try to understand their second-to-second thinking, but fixed/floating cameras at key chokepoints would be much more entertaining for the casual viewer.

It's not hard to chisel down the jagged edges and make CS:GO into the true esport it deserves to be. Let's make it happen!

No it's not lol. If it hasn't hit big in ~14 years, it ain't gonna happen now. Also I watched some CS. It's boring as shit to watch people play an FPS. Just look at how bored the 2nd guy is (the one not playing) in COD Quick Looks.

Heh.

Nope, an FPS needs to have some seriously crazy shit going on before it isn't boring to watch.

Nope.

If source didn't get popular with CGS I highly doubt GO is going to be the next big thing...

This makes me want to go back to csgo, but I really doubt it will ever come close to being as big as DOTA2 on the tournament scene. Even if it went f2p I don't think it has a chance. Valve really struck an amazing balance with the community features and the F2P model of DOTA2, which helped it get where it is.

Another thing is that it doesn't matter if DOTA is hard to get into. It has a huge, knowledgeable community that is very dedicated to DOTA and everything about it. CSGO is an FPS, and most FPS players play it casually. Casual players don't really care about the idiocincrcies of the game or what that means in a tournament environment. They play to shoot at dudes and tick up a score. Sure there are dedicated players, but it will never be enough to turn it into a spectator sport.

Or... I don't know... Anything is possible. I just don't see it

I really doubt it. FPS games are just incredibly boring to watch. I have watched hours and hours of Starcraft, and understand the appeal of MOBAs to an extent, but I don't see how CS will attract a bigger audience than what it already has (in terms of viewership). FPS games generally don't have the strategy and variety that makes existing eSports exciting to watch.

It's nice and all that the player count is increasing, but look at the numbers that really matter. CS:GO (at the moment, and generally) has less viewers than Starcraft II, a game which by everyone's own admission at this point is a "dying game." It has less than a fifth of the views of LoL and less than half that of DOTA - and Valve sure as hell aren't putting out million dollar prize pools like they do for DOTA. I went to Dreamhack in Valencia last year, and the CS:GO booth had ~30 people around it - less than Call of Duty. Heck, Street Fighter was more popular.

Your article is nice and all but I think you gloss over the fact that a game being fun to play =/= fun to watch.

You know, they actually showed some big CS: GO tournament on TV here in Finland recently. It was fairly boring to watch but hey, whaddyaknow.

All the people in this thread commenting that CS doesn't have enough strategy - you seriously make me laugh. Maybe try playing the game before you decided what kind of mechanics are going on within it.

Dude, come on. The last post in this thread was over two months ago, if you're going to bump a topic please make your post worthwhile and not just an inflammatory drive-by that probably wouldn't do more than just fuel the flames anyway.

i like shooting terrorists, long walks on the beach, musicals and reviving dead threads!

Did not know this thread existed... but it appears to have been somewhat accurate. Hearthstone might have more legs as far as being the number 2 spot but who knows. Counterstrike doesn't seem to have the exhaustion problem that CoD does since they don't put out a new one every year.

One thing that's always bugged me is how CS (and all FPS games) get covered as "eSports" -- particularly in camera angles.

Dota, LoL, and most other MOBAs are straightforwardly similar to a traditional arena -- you have a main camera that overlooks the action, and then you may have multiple views that a director can switch between. CS, by default, tends to spectate from the player POV. If you're an experienced viewer, it's no big deal, but for a newcomer it's completely confusing. You have no idea of the layout of the arena, no good place to get your bearings, and the camera is constantly shifting either from player movement, player deaths, or just swapping from player to player.

The game might (not necessarily will) be better served by using predefined camera locations for the main gameplay feed and supplementing that with the first-person perspectives. CS even has time between rounds that give the commentators a chance to go back and break down key plays.

Hearthstone isn't really an eSport. It's a card game that happens to be digital and should be compared more to MTG or Netrunner than DOTA or LoL.

I think it got bumped because it is featured in this video:

Pretty entertaining ready these comments many months later...

I agree with Jeff that FPS are not the future of eSports. They're just not interesting to watch. A large part of the reason various other types of games like Starcraft, DotA and even fighting games have had more success is because they're fun to watch from the outside. The best an FPS can do is show you one player's view at a time - and it's usually spastic and thrashing around like crazy due to the nature of FPS gameplay. I don't like DotA very much, but I'd much rather watch a high level match of it than any FPS.

Still can't get over CSGO's weird recoil mechanic.

I've never had that experience watching CS. I could maybe see it in some twitch shooter like Quake or something, but people don't play CS with a high enough sensitivity for that to happen.

I also don't get people who say that CS is hard to watch compared to something like DotA or LoL. Any time I try to watch a Moba, it's just a bunch of junk that I don't follow at all. CS has a very simple win condition for each round (kill the other team or plant the bomb) and the nature of it being round based means that every 1:45 it resets. Any with the current meta with the pistols, any team can win any round, which means there is pretty consistent action throughout. One complaint I've heard about DotA (and maybe League) is that the beginning of every match is the same and it's kind of boring until stuff starts happening.

Nice write-up. Just wanted to comment in regards to the state of competitive shooters that the latest iterations of Halo and Gears have both had the esports red carpet rolled out for them by Microsoft. The prize pools are pretty large (especially for console) but they have a long way to go with viewership retention and presentation. Valve is on a whole other level with that stuff and it makes sense to me why they're not focusing on singleplayer games anymore.

I think shooters could go even further with the "wall hack spectator mode" by adding different views and heatmap overlays that gave the map a more board game like feel. I wonder how the average person who doesn't play games views CS when it's on in the background at a bar - is it basically just a game of digital paintball that immediately registers as readable to them even though there's so much complexity beneath the surface?