Future of CS: GO Esports: Trends and Predictions for 2024

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, commonly referred to as CS: GO, is easily one of the world's biggest and most popular Esports. With Counter-Strike 2 set to take over soon, here’s what’s in store for Counter-Strike over the next year.

Current state of CS: GO Esports

As mentioned already, CS is one of the most prominent Esports in the world, with its live tournaments bringing in millions of viewers and with prize pools that would make your eyes water. On top of that, it has a dedicated fanbase and a trusted online gaming platform that allows for the trading of skins, which can be a profitable business. In short, CS is in a powerful position with a massive market share.

CS 2 & Its Impact

While CS: GO may be one of the biggest Esport games of all time, it is quickly becoming old news thanks to the announcement and imminent release of CS 2. Here are a few ways this much-anticipated sequel will change the CS Esports landscape in a few ways.

Slow Transition

Many CS experts and reviewers point to the transition from CS 1.6 to CS: GO to indicate how CS 2 will be implemented. It was a slow change due to the drastic change in the meta, strategy, and overall gameplay. Due to this, 2024 will likely be a prolonged transition year. Depending on how financially viable it is, many would take a break from the competition to focus on building new strategies and learning the game's intricacies.

Fewer Tournaments

While this prediction is not set in stone, many believe tournaments could be slowing down. Due to teams being slower to change into CS 2 teams, there could be a need for competition for a few months. While larger tournaments like the Majors are almost definitely set to go ahead like usual, there may be a pulling back of the smaller ones.

Teams Lacking Desire

Considering the amount of mental and physical effort and strain it takes for pros to master a game like CS: GO, learning a new one, even one that has a few gameplay changes, may not be all that exciting. Teams seem to lack the initial motivation to change to CS 2.

Drastic Change to Strategy

On the upside, we could see a significant shift in how CS is played. Something relatively simple, like dynamic smoke grenades, will completely change how players enter and clear areas of the map and how those areas are defended. You only have to watch a few pro-CS games to see constant and reliable strategies, such as holding the mid-double doors on Dust2 with a sniper rifle; this could easily disappear because smoke grenades will act differently.

Impact on the Esports Ecosystem

CS 2 will change the face of CS Esports and Esports in general. With CS already holding such a significant stake in the Esports world, CS 2 will only increase that further when it is in full swing. Millions of fans have been waiting years for a sequel to the title, and with it just around the corner, we are likely to see a massive increase in viewership, the player base, and the money involved in the game.

CS2 Skin Trading Market

The CS skins trading market has been massive for many years now, but we have seen a boom in the past few months thanks to the announcement of CS 2. Traders have been stockpiling rate weapon skins, holding them until CS 2 is fully released. We will see a large influx of money and trading in the marketplace over the coming months as new players enter the space and the traders begin unloading their skins stockpiles.

Update Inconsistencies

Another issue that has already arisen recently is [link:{"url":"https://dotesports.com/counter-strike/news/cs2-pros-worried-about-future-of-the-game-after-valve-makes-grave-mistake-in-latest-update","isNewTab":true,"text":"inconsistent and \"bad\" updates"}]. Only last week, an update drastically changed and, in the eyes of some pros, ruined a simple movement mechanic that has been used for years. While it may have seemed small on the surface, CS 2 has been plagued with consistency issues. When you are playing at the top level, not fully knowing or trusting the game to do what you want it to do, when you want to do it, is the difference between winning and losing.

While this can’t be called a trend or prediction just yet, many pros have voiced their concerns about the direction Valve wants to go; they are worried that taking CS to the next level will make the game unplayable at the top level.

Counter-Strike has been one of the pillars of Esports for many years now, and while that shouldn’t change anytime soon, CS 2 is set to take it to a level we have never seen before, or it could set it back in ways we could have never predicted; only time will tell.