In Summer, 2023 Valve announced CS2, a free replacement for the popular game Counter-Strike. The announcement generated groundbreaking buzz from the community as fans.
CS2 brought fans a breath of fresh air and impacted the franchise’s esports industry. In this article, we will delve into How CS2 has impacted and changed the esports ecosystem.
Fostering new talents
CS2 has experienced significant issues and glitches since it was released. One of the glitches was ‘peekers advantage,’ where players who peaked saw enemies first and could shoot first. This gave a competitive edge to aggressive players and rushers. While players who are ‘anchors’ or defenders struggle.
Valve has patched some issues but wasn’t able to fix the peekers advantage due to their ‘sub tick servers.’ This change has benefited aggressive players, such as the 17-year-old Team Spirit prodigy Danil ‘donk’ Kryshkovest.
CS2 released help finding new and fresh talents, in recent times, several younger players, including Andreas ‘aNdy’ Massing and Ihor ‘w0nderful’ Zhdanov, have started playing for top esports teams. I don’t think this will become a trend, but if it does, it will encourage younger players.
Changing the esports ecosystem
The launch of CS2 has prompted Valve to take a direct approach to the esports scene of the game. Before the new sets of guidelines, Valve didn’t manage esports but rather gave these responsibilities to esports organizations like ESL, PGL, and BLAST. While these organizers still control the events, Valve’s new guidelines are going to change the way these organizations handle esports.
Just before the release of CS2, Valve announced new requirements and guidelines for esports events starting in 2025. As per the requirements, esports tournaments that use invitations will need to utilize Valve’s ranking system of open qualifiers.
Semi-franchised leagues like ESL Pro League and Blast Premier featured partnered teams with guaranteed spots, with remaining slots determined by open qualifiers.
However, according to Valve’s new rules, they will no longer allow this. Valve said that they want to make the esports ecosystem more open and accessible to everyone rather than to those with business relationships.
Not Sticking with Your Own Rules
Valve will hold the next CS2 major in Shanghai, which marks the first Counter-Strike Major in Asia. Valve Majors have always operated as an Open Circuit, allowing any teams to qualify through open qualifiers. But for this event Valve will not have open qualifiers in Europe and America.
Even though Valve supported open qualifiers and wanted to eliminate the franchising by 2025. The recent decision of Valve has received criticism from the CS: GO community. A petition to maintain open qualifiers has already garnered over 7k signatures.
CS2 Esports is Going to be Crowded
Following the release of CS2, several esports organizers have announced a ton of events for esports. PGL announced a new series, and CCT is returning with a new circuit. This means fans will be able to see new esports tournaments every week.
2025 is going to be a major year for CS2 as we will see major changes in the ecosystem, with many tournaments taking place. With plenty of action for esports enthusiasts.
