70 Fun Facts About CS:GO

Which studio co-developed Counter-Strike: Global Offensive with Valve, having begun by porting its predecessor?

The console port of Counter-Strike: Source grew into a full sequel once Valve saw the opportunity.

In which month and year was CS:GO first released for Windows, OS X, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360?

CS:GO launched in August 2012 (21 August) on Windows, OS X, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, priced at $14.99, after a closed beta that had started the previous November.

In CS:GO's Arms Race mode, a kill with which weapon wins the match?

Arms Race hands players a new weapon after each kill; the final tier is the golden knife, and the first player to score a kill with it wins the match.

A full CS:GO Competitive match is a best-of how many rounds?

A full CS:GO Competitive match is best of 30 rounds: the first team to 16 round wins takes it, with sides swapping after the first 15 rounds; pro play added overtime when a match reached 15-15.

CS:GO's Competitive skill ranks were based on which rating system?

CS:GO's skill groups were based on the Glicko rating system (a modified Glicko-2), which tracks a rating plus a confidence interval rather than a single Elo number; Valve never published the exact formula.

Which mode equips everyone with only an SSG 08 and a knife on a low-gravity map?

Flying Scoutsman gives every player only an SSG 08 sniper rifle, nicknamed the Scout, and a knife, with gravity lowered so players float through long jumps.

In Retakes mode, how many Terrorists defend the planted bomb against four Counter-Terrorists?

Players pick a loadout card at the start of each round instead of buying weapons.

Which equipment new to CS:GO kills an enemy in one shot at close range?

The taser (Zeus x27), new to the series in CS:GO, kills any enemy in a single hit within a few metres; it held one shot and was discarded after firing.

Which popular community mod has players complete obstacle courses with advanced strafing and jumping?

Kreedz Climbing, usually shortened to KZ, is a community mod in which players race through obstacle courses using advanced strafing and jumping; it began on Counter-Strike 1.6 climb maps before moving to CS:GO servers.

What was the name of the August 2013 update that introduced weapon skins and cases to CS:GO?

The Arms Deal update of August 2013 introduced weapon skins, weapon cases and keys; the skin economy it created helped push CS:GO's player count past every earlier Counter-Strike.

Which purchasable events, accessed via passes, gave players objectives and an upgradeable coin?

Operations were time-limited events bought via an operation pass; each gave players missions and a coin that upgraded from bronze toward diamond as objectives were completed, with some revenue going to the community map makers.

What did the October 2014 update add that plays the round MVP's own soundtrack for everyone?

Music kits, added in October 2014, replace the default soundtrack, and the round MVP's kit plays for everyone; kits can be borrowed from teammates, sold and traded on the Steam Community Market.

Which classic map was remade and re-released in February 2016 as part of Operation Wildfire?

Nuke was rebuilt and re-released on 17 February 2016 alongside Operation Wildfire; Valve said the goals were to balance the map and make it more visually appealing.

What did a player need to link to their account for CS:GO Prime matchmaking in 2016?

Prime matchmaking launched in April 2016 and required linking a verified phone number to the Steam account, aiming to keep legitimate players away from cheaters and from high-skill players smurfing on alternate accounts.

In October 2016 consumable "graffiti" items replaced which older customisable feature?

Sprays, the series' older paint-on-wall feature, were replaced in October 2016 by consumable graffiti items that can be bought, traded and applied a limited number of times; glove skins followed a month later.

Which publisher released a censored version of CS:GO in mainland China in September 2017?

Perfect World published the censored mainland Chinese version of CS:GO in September 2017; skulls were censored and the hammer and sickle was removed from Cache and Train.

What was CS:GO's hidden matchmaking score, introduced in November 2017, called?

Trust Factor, introduced in November 2017, is a hidden matchmaking score built from a player's behaviour across Steam and CS:GO; Valve has never shown players the number or the full list of what feeds it.

In which month and year did CS:GO become fully free to play?

CS:GO went fully free to play on 6 December 2018; anyone who had already bought the game was upgraded to Prime status automatically, while new free accounts had to earn or buy Prime.

What was the name of the battle-royale mode added to CS:GO in late 2018?

The same update replaced the old Scaleform interface with the Panorama UI.

Operation Shattered Web (November 2019) was notable for introducing what to CS:GO?

Operation Shattered Web (November 2019) brought new character models and a battle pass: purchasable agent skins replaced the default player models, and weekly missions earned stars to unlock rewards.

CS:GO source code leaked in April 2020 alongside the code for which other Valve game?

Valve confirmed the leak was genuine but said current builds were not at risk.

How much per month did the "CS:GO 360 Stats" subscription cost when it launched in May 2021?

CS:GO 360 Stats launched in May 2021 at $0.99 a month, offering round-by-round match stats that had previously come with an operation pass; players noted free third-party sites already offered similar data.

In 2019 Valve made new keys untradeable after concluding key trading was being used for what?

In October 2019 Valve said key trading had become money laundering by fraud networks, stating 'nearly all' key purchases that ended up traded on the marketplace were fraud-sourced, so newly bought keys became untradeable.

In July 2018 Valve disabled case opening in which two countries over their gambling laws?

Valve disabled case opening for players in Belgium and the Netherlands in July 2018 after regulators in both countries ruled that tradeable loot boxes broke their gambling laws.

In the 2014 match-fixing scandal, iBUYPOWER deliberately lost to which team?

iBUYPOWER deliberately lost a CEVO Professional match to NetCodeGuides.com in August 2014; seven people were permanently banned from Valve Majors, though other organisers later let them compete.

Which iBUYPOWER player escaped the Major ban because he took no payment, and later won a Major?

Tyler 'Skadoodle' Latham escaped the ban because he had taken no payment for the thrown match; he went on to win a Major in January 2018 as his team's AWPer, while the bans ended two top in-game leaders' careers.

The 2020 coaching scandal involved coaches exploiting a bug to do what?

Coaches exploited a spectator bug that froze their camera at a chosen spot, letting them see parts of the map they should not have and relay enemy positions; the Esports Integrity Commission sanctioned dozens of coaches.

How much does the AWP sniper rifle cost in the Counter-Strike buy menu?

The AWP costs $4,750 in the buy menu; a single shot to the chest or head kills an opponent even through full armour, which is why teams save up for it on full-buy rounds.

The first significant TV rights deal for CS:GO put the ELEAGUE Major 2017 on which US cable network?

Turner followed up with Esports 101: CSGO and a docu-series in 2018.

CS:GO won an eSports title-of-the-year prize at which awards ceremony in 2015?

CS:GO took the eSports Game of the Year prize at The Game Awards 2015, and was nominated for Best Esports Game at the same show in 2017 and from 2019 to 2022.

The first Valve-recognised CS:GO Major, DreamHack Winter 2013, was held in which country?

DreamHack Winter 2013, held in Jönköping, Sweden, was the first Valve-sponsored Major; its $250,000 prize pool was partly funded by community purchases of the eSports case introduced with the Arms Deal update.

Which team won the first CS:GO Major in 2013?

Fnatic won DreamHack Winter 2013, the first CS:GO Major, in an upset over the Swedish rivals who had gone 87-0 on LAN the previous year; Fnatic would win two more Majors in 2015.

Which team's CS:GO lineup put together an 87-0 LAN map winning streak in 2012-13?

Ninjas in Pyjamas won 87 consecutive LAN maps from CS:GO's 2012 release into 2013; GeT_RiGhT, part of that lineup, was HLTV's best player in the world in both 2013 and 2014.

Ahead of MLG Columbus 2016, Valve permanently raised the Major prize pool from $250,000 to what?

Valve raised the Major prize pool from $250,000 to $1,000,000 starting with MLG Columbus 2016, and at the same time the number of Majors per year dropped from three to two.

Which Brazilian team won MLG Columbus 2016 to become the first non-European Major champion?

Luminosity Gaming, led by FalleN, won MLG Columbus 2016 as the first non-European Major champion; the same roster won the next Major, ESL One Cologne 2016, playing under the SK Gaming banner.

Gambit Esports, the first CIS team to win a Major (2017), was mainly players from which country?

Three of Gambit's five Kraków 2017 players, AdreN, mou and Hobbit, were from Kazakhstan, alongside Dosia and Zeus, so the win also counted as the first Asian team to win a Major.

Which team won the ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018, the first North American Major winner?

Cloud9 beat FaZe Clan in an overtime decider to win the ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018, the first North American Major title; Boston was also the first Major with 24 teams and the first split across two cities.

Which Danish team won the most CS:GO-era Majors, with four?

Astralis won four CS:GO Majors: Atlanta 2017, London 2018, Katowice 2019 and Berlin 2019, the last three making them the first team to win three Majors in a row.

Why was ESL One Rio 2020, planned as the first South American Major, never played?

ESL One Rio 2020, due to be the first Major in South America, was postponed from May to November 2020 and then it was cancelled because of COVID-19; Brazil had to wait until IEM Rio 2022.

Which team won PGL Major Stockholm 2021 without dropping a single map, a CS:GO first?

Natus Vincere, led by s1mple, won PGL Major Stockholm 2021 without dropping a single map, the first team to do so at a Major; the final against G2 peaked at about 2.75 million concurrent viewers.

s1mple, HLTV's No. 1 player in 2018, 2021 and 2022, is from which country?

Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev is from Ukraine, born in Kyiv; he won his first Major title and the MVP award at Stockholm 2021.

Which organisation won PGL Major Antwerp 2022, the first international roster to win a Major?

FaZe Clan, with players from five different countries, beat Natus Vincere 2-0 in the PGL Major Antwerp 2022 final to become the first international roster to win a Major.

Under which neutral name did Virtus.pro compete at IEM Rio 2022?

Virtus.pro competed as Outsiders because Russian-owned organisations were barred from using their branding after the invasion of Ukraine; under that name they beat Heroic 2-0 in the IEM Rio 2022 final.

Which French organisation won BLAST Paris 2023, the final CS:GO Major?

Team Vitality, with home-country star ZywOo, beat dark horse GamerLegion 2-0 in the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 final, the last Major played on CS:GO.

How old was ZywOo when he first won HLTV's Player of the Year, for 2019?

Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut was 19 when HLTV named him the best player of 2019, his first full year with Team Vitality; he won the award again for 2020.

Where was the first Counter-Strike 2 Major held in March 2024?

PGL Major Copenhagen 2024, played at the Royal Arena in March 2024, was the first Counter-Strike 2 Major; the second went to Shanghai that December.

Who designed the map Dust II for the original Counter-Strike?

David Johnston, who had already made the original Dust during the 1999 beta, designed Dust II; it arrived with Counter-Strike 1.1 in 2001 and received its first major visual overhaul in CS:GO in October 2017.

The original Counter-Strike began in 1999 as a mod for which Valve game?

Counter-Strike began in June 1999 as a Half-Life mod by Minh Le and Jess Cliffe; it grew so popular that Valve bought the rights and hired both of them.

Counter-Strike: Source (2004) was developed by Valve with which studio, later famous for Left 4 Dead?

It was a remake of the 2000 original on the then-new Source engine.

On what date did Counter-Strike 2 replace CS:GO on Steam?

Counter-Strike 2 replaced CS:GO as a free update on September 27, 2023; the invite-only beta had begun on March 22, 2023, the day the game was announced.

Support for which operating system was dropped when Counter-Strike 2 arrived?

Counter-Strike 2 dropped support for macOS, along with DirectX 9 and 32-bit operating systems, when it launched in September 2023; all 167 of CS:GO's achievements were removed at the same time.

What is the numerical ranking used in Counter-Strike 2's Premier mode called?

Premier mode in Counter-Strike 2 ranks players with a numerical CS Rating, shown in colour-coded tiers from grey up to gold for 30,000 and above; regular Competitive kept the old per-map skill groups.

Under Valve's rules, who holds a team's Major qualification spot?

Valve ties a Major spot to the players, not the organisation: if at least three of the five stay together the spot follows them, which is how EnVyUs lost its 2017 Major-qualifier place when three players moved to G2 Esports.

Since 2017 the Major group stages have used which tournament format?

Majors have used the Swiss system for group stages since ELEAGUE Atlanta 2017: teams with the same record meet each round, three wins advance a team and three losses eliminate it.

Which high-profile French pro was VAC-banned in 2014 while playing for Titan?

Hovik 'KQLY' Tovmassian was VAC-banned in November 2014 while playing for Titan, days before DreamHack Winter 2014, which cost the team its place at the Major; VAC bans are permanent.

Where is CS:GO's co-developer studio based?

Hidden Path Entertainment, CS:GO's co-developer, is based in Bellevue, Washington, a short drive from Valve's own headquarters in the Seattle area.

In which year was Counter-Strike: Global Offensive first revealed to the public?

Development had begun in March 2010 as Hidden Path's console port of Counter-Strike: Source, and the reveal came on August 12, 2011.

Roughly how many people had access when CS:GO's closed beta began in November 2011?

CS:GO's closed beta opened on 30 November 2011 to about 10,000 people who had received keys at showcase events; it widened only once client and server stability problems were fixed.

Which platform got CS:GO in September 2014, more than two years after the other versions?

The game launched on Windows, OS X, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on August 21, 2012, with Linux trailing behind.

Why did Valve drop its plans for cross-platform play between PC and consoles in CS:GO?

Valve dropped PC-console cross-play so the PC and Mac versions could be actively updated without waiting on console certification; the console versions consequently froze in place while the PC game received updates for over a decade.

What did two lawsuits filed in mid-2016 accuse skin-betting sites and Valve of encouraging?

The two 2016 suits accused Valve and skin-betting sites of encouraging underage gambling and alleged undisclosed promotion by streamers; Valve responded by cutting the sites off from Steamworks, and several closed.

In Counter-Strike 2, a standard match ends when one team wins how many rounds?

Counter-Strike 2 matches are first to 13 round wins, a maximum of 24 regulation rounds, down from CS:GO's 30-round matches where 16 wins took the game.

How many maps make up the Premier mode pool in Counter-Strike 2's pick-and-ban system?

Premier uses the seven-map Active Duty pool, with teams banning and picking down to one map before each match; Premier also replaced CS:GO's 18 skill groups with a numerical rating, while Competitive ranks players per map.

CS2's revised loadout lets a player bring how many weapons in total into a match?

Counter-Strike 2's loadout holds 15 weapons per side: five pistols, five mid-tier weapons such as SMGs and shotguns, and five rifles, with players choosing which alternatives, such as the M4A4 or M4A1-S, to bring.

Which map did Valve rebuild from the ground up as an 'Overhaul' for Counter-Strike 2?

Dust II was a layout-unchanged 'Touchstone' map and Nuke got the 'Upgrades' treatment with new Source 2 lighting and materials.

Who composed the new music for Counter-Strike 2?

Mike Morasky, Valve's in-house composer who also scored Portal 2 and Half-Life: Alyx, wrote Counter-Strike 2's new music; a soundtrack album followed on Mike Patton's Ipecac Recordings label.

Roughly how many Counter-Strike loot boxes were reportedly opened during 2023?

A case tracker cited by Eurogamer and Dot Esports counted about 400 million Counter-Strike cases opened during 2023, generating roughly US$1 billion in key revenue in that year alone.

In Counter-Strike 2's Wingman mode, how many round wins does a team need?

Wingman in Counter-Strike 2 is first to nine round wins, a maximum of 16 rounds, played two-versus-two on a single bombsite; Retakes, by contrast, is decided at eight.

About how many Steam reviews from CS:GO masked the wave of negative CS2 reviews at launch?

CS:GO's roughly 7.5 million existing Steam reviews carried over to Counter-Strike 2, masking the launch backlash; Rock Paper Shotgun estimated that CS2's own reviews alone would have shown a 'mixed' 59% rating.

What was Counter-Strike 2's invite-only beta, opened to select CS:GO players in March 2023, called?

The Limited Test, Counter-Strike 2's invite-only beta, began on 22 March 2023 for selected CS:GO players, widening in stages through the summer before the full launch that September.