One of the best and most influential games ever made has just turned 25

If you’re a gamer, then you probably have at least heard of Counter-Strike. It’s a tactical five-versus-five shooter that has grown and evolved ever since its humble beginnings as a mod for Half-Life, going on to become one of the biggest games ever made. What started in 1999 has taken the world by storm, having a direct impact on titles like Call of Duty, Rainbow Six Siege, Team Fortress 2, Overwatch, Battlefield, and so much more. Not only that, it’s been a huge part of the lives of many people who have played it, myself included.

I’ve been playing Counter-Strike since I ended up with a copy of Counter-Strike: Source when I was roughly 10 or 11 years old. I went on to play Team Fortress 2 for quite a while, pre-ordering Counter-Strike: Global Offensive when it launched. Since then, I’ve been hooked. I’ve met countless friends, traveled to many parts of the world that I never would have got to, and taken part in competitive tournaments in Ireland and in wider Europe… all thanks to Counter-Strike.

Counter-Strike was one of the most played games of 2023

It’s a massive phenomenon

According to Newzoo’s annual game report of 2023 (via Kotaku), Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Counter-Strike 2 were the fourth most played games in the world on PC. That’s a massive amount of staying power, and while the games have updated to keep with the times, Counter-Strike 2 launched properly in September last year and replaced its 11-year-old predecessor. Given its cultural influence in certain areas of the world as well, it’s no wonder that it’s managed to outstay many of the titles it would have launched alongside.

Part of the reason for its staying power is the sheer simplicity of the game. In essence, you play as Counter-Terrorists (CTs) or Terrorists (Ts), and the CTs have to prevent the Ts from planting a bomb on A site or B site. These maps are all made to represent different parts of the world, and the game adds an extra dimension through an economy system. You gain more money for winning rounds than you do for losing them, but if you continuously lose rounds, you’ll gain more money for every additional round you lose. Each half has 12 rounds that last for approximately two minutes each, and the first to 13 rounds total wins the game.

In other words, comparing Counter-Strike to other titles like Valorant, it’s pretty clear why it manages to outpace Riot’s shooter. That’s not to say that Riot’s Valorant is bad (I love it and play a lot of it as well), but as a spectator event, it can be harder for new players or merely casually interested parties to understand what’s going on quickly. Counter-Strike‘s strength is its simplicity.

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Counter-Strike is one of the foundations of competitive gaming

It was one of the first games to gain traction as a competitive title

Source: Valve

Counter-Strike was one of the first games to be featured in organized esports tournaments, and that’s a key reason for its success. Events like the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL), World Cyber Games (WCG), and Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC) helped establish a formal competitive scene for the game, with the first CPL containing Counter-Strike taking place in March of 2000. With LAN cafes beginning to make Counter-Strike a mainstay of their offerings, too, more and more people were exposed to it as time went on. Plus, everyone knew Half-Life, and it being a popular mod for one of the biggest PC games at the time meant that everyone eventually knew Counter-Strike.

Its origins as a mod came from two college students, Minh Le and Jess Cliffe. Cliffe is the “voice” of the game, and many of the older radio commands (some of which have been re-recorded over the years) were voiced by him. If you’ve ever heard the “fire in the hole!” voice clip that sounds like it’s being said over a static walky-talky, then you’ve heard Cliffe’s voice. Valve eventually approached both of them to buy Counter-Strike in April 2000, releasing a standalone version of the game in September 2000.

After Valve’s launch of Counter-Strike, it received numerous updates, and is now referred to in the community as “Counter-Strike 1.6“. Valve’s release of Counter-Strike: Source splintered the community for a number of reasons, with many seeing the game as having a reduced skill ceiling. Eventually, Valve released Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in an attempt to unify both the Counter-Strike 1.6 communities and Counter-Strike: Source. While the game launched in a pretty poor state, the tactic worked, and professional teams from both games eventually made the switch. Not only did it mean that Valve only had to worry about one game, but it also led to an interesting crossover of two communities battling it out for supremacy when they were essentially playing entirely different games prior to that.

Counter-Strike 2’s future is bright, and there’s a lot more to come

It’s still early days for CS2

Looking back to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the problems it had were severe, and it took a long time to get to an actually playable state in comparison to its predecessors. In that sense, Counter-Strike 2 is doing significantly better already. The game has had its first Major tournament (a Valve-run event) already in Copenhagen this year, and there’s new talent younger than the game itself tearing up international stages. It’s never been a better time to be an esports fan. Mind you, you won’t be playing it on a Steam Deck or anything, but then again, would you want to?

Titles like Counter-Strike have staying power, and it’s clear why. The games are exhilarating, the communities built around the game are huge, and the cultural impact that it’s had in both gaming circles and in games themselves is arguably unmatched by most titles aside from the likes of DOOM or Quake. While you may not have ever played Counter-Strike, it’s a legend in the space, and there’s a lot to thank for it in terms of level design, esports, and gaming in general.

Happy birthday Counter-Strike, and here’s to another 25 years.

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