The declining state of Counter-Strike

What do the pros think?

Counter-Strike is still the main event in most professional gaming tournaments today. The tournaments, usually sponsored and supported by hardware companies like Intel and NVIDIA, still run rather old games like Warcraft 3, Counter-Strike 1.6 and in some cases Quake 3. This situation, where hardware manufacturers are supporting games that don't require the latest hardware, seems rather bizarre to me and so when the World Series of Video Games came to London I decided to go down there and get the view of the professionals, their managers and the companies on the state of CS.

The Sponsors

The first and most relevant question then is why the big companies are hanging around. I got chatting to Alasdair Bailey, Product Manager for Rock, and asked what they were doing there:

"We're supporting Dignitas (a gaming team competing at the event) by supplying them with high-end gaming laptops so they can prepare for the actual matches. Even though some of the games don't require the most high-end PC's, gamers are the people who want to have the latest equipment.

What's more, we create products that target gamers specifically. For instance one of the cool features on our laptops is that you can turn off the touch pad. This means that when you're playing with a mouse you don't have to worry about touching the pad and disrupting your game. Gamers want features like these."



It is an interesting point of view - that those gamers, and in particular CS players, are the type of people who want up to date rigs. A little bit of research however, using the trusty Steam survey, paints a slightly different picture. This survey says that 78,439, around 10% of people using Steam used a Geforce 6600, which is hardly top of the range. I suppose having the product branded and associated with the event, being part of the hardcore gaming community is the most important aim of supporting these events.

The Players

After hearing the company perspective I went in search of getting a gamers view. Marc Mangiacapra, longest serving member of Counter-Strike clan 4Kings, is currently rated as one of the best players in Europe. I caught him having a sneaky cigarette out the back door and had a quick chat where he unveiled some interesting things, especially when I asked about money. He told me: "I get paid a yearly salary which is enough to get by. Any money we make from tournaments or from personal training sessions is just a bonus."

Personal training sessions? Surely people don't pay to learn how to play? Apparently they did, Marc continued: "I have trained all different types of players, from the new players all the way up to players at the highest level. They want me to analyse their game, discuss tactics and improve their aim." I have to admit the idea of gamers paying others seems completely crazy, certainly not to make serious money: "I've made a couple of thousand from it – yeah," Marc said nonchalantly. Amazing.

I'd certainly underestimated the clout of the top CS players in terms of finances. Marc continued: "Intel sponsor us each year with over £100,000, which supports the whole 4Kings setup." He continued, "We play all round the world, from South Korea to the United States. I've been asked for my autograph by a group of fans whilst in a restaurant in China and been on the cover of the Daily Telegraph. I would say gaming has made me something of a celebrity."



The world of professional gaming is one filled with young people, so I asked Marc how long he felt he had left as a pro-gamer: "I'll probably finish in around a year as Counter-Strike: Source will never be a pro-level game." Marc then had to rush off to a photography session for Intel PR. Although not mainstream, pro-level CS is certainly serious and has the financial backing to prove it.

Marc's closing comments that CS:S would never make it at the top level however left me with more questions. If CS:S doesn't fill the void of CS 1.6 then will pro-gaming die? When asking the majority of gamers this question, the response was fairly mixed. Most were reluctant to accept that pro-gaming could be in trouble – unsurprising considering that almost everybody there was aspiring to achieve the professional dream.

The truth is that the current changes to CS:S will almost certainly turn pro-gamers away, which is certainly not a good thing for the community. The reason there are professional players is purely down to the fact that there is a huge popularity, celebrity if you will, behind these players. If there are no professionals, then that is because the game simply isn't good enough.