Launched in August 2012, CS:GO has become a behemoth in the gaming and esports scene, with professional players, teams and dozens of tournaments every year with prize money that runs into the millions of dollars. But that doesn’t mean everything about the game is common knowledge.
These are six facts about CS:GO that you probably didn’t know:
1. Counter-Strike Is A Series Of Games
Older gamers will know this for sure, but the younger generation might not be aware that CS:GO is the fourth game in the Counter-Strike series. The original game, Counter-Strike, was followed by CS: Condition Zero, and shortly after that, CS: Source was released.
CS:GO wasn’t even meant to be a PC release but rather a console port of CS: Source to get the game on PlayStation and Xbox, but it proved to be so popular that it became the dominant version of the game that is still played on all platforms to this day.
2. It is the first Counter-Striker game to have competitive matchmaking built-in
Despite being a multiplayer game initially, no version of Counter-Strike has been launched with a competitive mode or matchmaking functionality, including Global Offensive.
Back in the day, players would have to connect peer-to-peer via specially created servers or custom competitive modes created by the modding community. It seems crazy to think now, but CS:GO also lacked this functionality on launch. However, the massive popularity of the game meant Valve added competitive matchmaking shortly after release.
These days, the competitive CS:GO scene is one of the biggest in all of esports. Statistics made available by online gaming platform Steam show that the game had an average of 743 209 players every day, with a peak of over 1.12 million, in January 2021.
The game’s popularity has led ESL Gaming Australia to set up three dedicated esports studios to broadcast the ESL ANZ Champs competition. The iGaming industry is also become increasingly engaged with esports, and odds on CS:GO tournaments are being offered at many Australian eSports betting sites such as PlayUp and Bet365.
Before November 2014, if players enjoyed a match enough, there was an option for both teams to vote on the prospect of a rematch with the same teams on the same map. All ten players had to vote, so if someone was away from their keyboard or decided not to vote, it would fail. The result also had to be unanimous, so if even a single-player voted against the rematch, it would also fail.
Why this functionality was removed is still a mystery as no official statement from Valve was ever given for the reasons behind patching it out. It seems like a handy feature that would allow people to continue playing against others they found of similar skill or who are just fun to play with and against.
One reason why it might have been removed is that it could have been open to abuse. Ten friends might be able to set up a game with one side not trying to win for the other five players to farm rankings points and gain an artificially high place on the ladder.
4. Custom Map Graffiti Immortals
One of the best aspects of CS:GO is how full the maps are. Amazing attention to detail has made the maps feel vibrant and immersive. There is some graffiti art on certain maps that have a deeper meaning behind them.
Valve has used the wall graffiti on specific points of certain maps to commemorate incredible and iconic plays made by some of the game’s top professionals. So far, only five people have been honoured in this fashion, namely: Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer, who has not one but two permanent graffiti in his honour, Marcelo “coldzera” David, Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev, Adam “friberg” Friberg, and Mikhail “Dosia” Stolyarov.
This final little-known fact might actually help you in online games on the ladder. It appears that many, or even most, CS:GO players are not aware of this, but there is height to the damage box of an incendiary grenade.
This means that the damage is not isolated to the floor, and attempting to jump over the fire does absolutely nothing except deal the same damage to you as merely running through the flames.
One of the main reasons this is such a misunderstood aspect of the game is that it is exceedingly common to see pro players in official matches jumping through incendiary fire. However, that is more likely them trying to confuse the opposition firing angle when coming out the smoke on the other side rather than trying to mitigate fire damage.
6. The Most Expensive Skin
This might come as a surprise to most, but skins for guns were not a part of CS:GO at launch. They were added in the Arms Deal update in late 2013. Since they were added, they have become an integral part of the game and one of the primary reasons the game is so successful even today, over nine years since it initially launched.
These days, everyone is crazy about skins, especially the rare variants of popular skins. The market for cosmetics in CS:GO is a behemoth with thousands of transactions taking place every day. However, the most that has ever been spent on a single skin is a staggering $61 052.
The skin in question was a Dragon Lore AWP skin from the Cobblestone collection and featured the sticker of player Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham from the Boston Major in 2018. It sold for so much because Skadoodle played for Cloud9, who won the tournament became the first American team ever to win a CS:GO major, adding a considerable amount of value to the cosmetic.
Bonus facts
- You can’t see your own shadow – No matter what direction you look, it is impossible to see your own shadow in CS:GO because the player’s shadow is not rendered from the first-person perspective
- You can withdraw cash from an ATM in-game – It only works in Deathmatch mode and only on the map Overpass, but there is an ATM featured on that map from which you can draw money by pressing “E” when nearby.
- Team Fortress 2 radio – The radio in the map Train’s lobby plays the theme tune from Team Fortress 2, another online competitive first-person shooter created by Valve.
- You can get chickens to follow you – Some maps feature chickens pottering around them. Aside from target practice, it is also possible to get the chickens to follow you by pressing “E” on them. Although it is still uncertain what tactical advantage this might give you.
- You can see the bomb in smoke – This is a fact that is likely known more by noobs than long-time players of the game, but if you leave tutorials on the game will show a pointer to where the bomb has been planted even if a smoke grenade hides it.
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