Counter-Strike 2 is the best esport on the planet. Compared to League of Legends, Dota 2, Overwatch, Valorant, and countless others, I truly believe that it’s the absolute best out there. I say this from a position of working a significant amount in esports, and even watching tournaments in other games too, like Valorant and Deadlock. I know how much of an audacious claim that is to some, but there are a lot of reasons why I believe it’s the case.
5 It’s easy to get into
As a spectator or a player
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Games like Overwatch and Valorant can seem daunting thanks to the sheer amount of abilities and things happening at once. You need to learn who does what, how they do it, and how those abilities might impact the current state of play. The same goes for games like League of Legends and Dota 2, where there are 170 champions in League and 126 heroes in Dota. That’s a lot to be learned, and then you need to learn all of the items too.
In contrast, Counter-Strike is simple. There have been relatively few changes over the years, with most of the game’s advancement comes from players discovering new tricks, new strategies, and the occasional map change or rotation. There’s a money system for purchasing weapons and utility, and it’s very easy to see when someone gets a nice kill. There’s no understanding that a certain ability combination got the kill; it’s all about what you can see on your screen easily.
People understand money, they understand guns, and that’s all there really is to get started. I brought my dad to a cinema showing of the ESL One Cologne 2015 Major final (Fnatic vs EnVyUS), and as someone who had never played Counter-Strike, he had a few questions but understood all you need to know to enjoy the game in just a few rounds.
Getting started is similarly easy, though there’s a lot to learn. It’s almost deceptively simple as a new player if you’ve watched the game before, but the amount that you can learn to improve is impressive.
4 It’s one of the oldest esport titles in the world
With a lot of history still relevant today
When it comes to longevity, nothing beats Counter-Strike. Started as a mod of Half-Life in 1999, the game quickly grew to become one of the first major esport titles. Valve hired its developers in 2000, acquiring the rights to the title and officially releasing Counter-Strike 1.0 that year. Counter-Strike hosted some of the first LAN tournaments alongside the likes of Quake and Unreal Tournament, with the Cyberathlete Professional League being one of the first major organizers to run tournaments in the game.
Since then, tournaments have grown from filling hallways to filling stadiums. They went from local events to global competitions, with massive prize pools to boot. The first Counter-Strike tournament hosted by CPL boasted a $100,000 prize pool in March of 2000, with the PGL Shanghai Major packing a $1.25 million prize pool. Many analysts, casters, coaches, and players have been around since the game’s inception, which means that the historical depth of the game still lives on.
Counter-Strike is an esport enriched by its history, with some players having stories that span decades. For example, FaZe Clan, one of the best teams in the world, is led by Finn
5 reasons Counter-Strike 2 is the best esport on the planet (and the easiest to get started with)
