''Counter-Strike'' (''CS'') is a series of
multiplayer
A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
tactical
Tactic(s) or Tactical may refer to:
* Tactic (method), a conceptual action implemented as one or more specific tasks
** Military tactics, the disposition and maneuver of units on a particular sea or battlefield
** Chess tactics
** Political tacti ...
first-person shooter
First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...
video games in which teams of
terrorists
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
battle to perpetrate an act of terror (bombing, hostage-taking, assassination) while
counter-terrorists try to prevent it (bomb defusal, hostage rescue, escort mission). The series began on
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
in 1999 with the release of the first game, ''
Counter-Strike
''Counter-Strike'' (''CS'') is a series of multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video games in which teams of terrorists battle to perpetrate an act of terror (bombing, hostage-taking, assassination) while counter-terrorists try to preven ...
''. It was initially released as a
modification
Modification may refer to:
* Modifications of school work for students with special educational needs
* Modifications (genetics), changes in appearance arising from changes in the environment
* Posttranslational modifications, changes to prote ...
("mod") for ''
Half-Life
Half-life (symbol ) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable ato ...
'' that was designed by
Minh "Gooseman" Le
Minh Le (Vietnamese: Lê Minh), also known by his online nickname Gooseman, is a Vietnamese Canadian video game programmer who co-created the ''Half-Life'' mod ''Counter-Strike'' with Jess Cliffe in 1999 and started the ''Counter-Strike'' serie ...
and
Jess "Cliffe" Cliffe
Jess A. Cliffe (born June 27, 1981) is a video game designer who co-created the ''Half-Life'' mod ''Counter-Strike'' with Minh Le and started the ''Counter-Strike'' series. He is also the "voice of ''Counter-Strike''" via the radio commands, ...
before the rights to the mod's
intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
were acquired by
Valve
A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fittings ...
, the
developers of ''Half-Life'', who then turned ''Counter-Strike'' into a retail product released in 2000.
The original ''Counter-Strike'' was followed by ''
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero'', developed by
Turtle Rock Studios
Turtle Rock Studios (known as Valve South between 2008 and 2010) is an American video game developer founded in March 2002 by Michael Booth. It was acquired by Valve in 2008, but was re-founded in 2011 as an independent company by Phil Robb and ...
and released in March 2004. A previous version of ''Condition Zero'' that was developed by
Ritual Entertainment
Ritual Entertainment was an American video game developer established in 1996 by Robert Atkins, Mark Dochtermann, Jim Dosé, Richard 'Levelord' Gray, Michael Hadwin, Harry Miller, and Tom Mustaine. Based in Dallas, Texas, Ritual Entertainment wa ...
was released alongside it as ''Condition Zero: Deleted Scenes''. Eight months later, Valve released ''
Counter-Strike: Source'', a remake of the original ''Counter-Strike'' and the first in the series to run on Valve's newly created
Source engine
Source is a 3D game engine developed by Valve. It debuted as the successor to GoldSrc in 2004 with the release of '' Counter-Strike: Source'' and '' Half-Life 2''. Updates to Source were released in incremental versions, with the engine being su ...
.
The fourth game in the main series, ''
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'', was released by Valve in 2012 for Windows,
OS X
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
,
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...
, and
PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...
.
Hidden Path Entertainment
Hidden Path Entertainment is an American video game development company based in Bellevue, Washington, United States.
History
Hidden Path was founded in 2006 by Michael Austin, Jim Garbarini, Dave McCoy, Jeff Pobst, and Mark Terrano. In 2008, ...
, who worked on ''Counter-Strike: Source'' post-release, helped to develop the game alongside Valve.
There have been several third-party spin-off titles created for Asian markets over the years. These include the ''Counter-Strike Online'' series, ''Counter-Strike Neo'', and ''Counter-Strike Nexon: Studio''.
Gameplay
''Counter-Strike'' is an objective-based,
multiplayer
A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
tactical
Tactic(s) or Tactical may refer to:
* Tactic (method), a conceptual action implemented as one or more specific tasks
** Military tactics, the disposition and maneuver of units on a particular sea or battlefield
** Chess tactics
** Political tacti ...
first-person shooter
First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...
. Two opposing teams—the Terrorists and the Counter Terrorists—compete in game modes to complete objectives, such as securing a location to plant or defuse a bomb and rescuing or guarding hostages.
At the end of each round, players are rewarded based on their individual performance with in-game currency to spend on more powerful weapons in subsequent rounds. Winning rounds results in more money than losing and completing objectives such as killing enemy players gives cash bonuses.
Uncooperative actions, such as
killing teammates, results in a penalty.
Main series
''Counter-Strike''
Originally a modification for ''Half-Life'', the rights to ''Counter-Strike'', as well as the developers working on it, were acquired by Valve in 2000.
The game received a port to
Xbox
Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...
in 2003.
It was also ported to OS X and Linux in the form of a beta in January 2013. A full release was published in April 2013.
''Condition Zero''
''Counter-Strike'' was followed-up with ''Counter-Strike: Condition Zero'', developed by Turtle Rock Studios and released in 2004. It used the ''Half-Life''
GoldSrc
GoldSrc ( ) is a proprietary game engine developed by Valve. At its core, GoldSrc is a heavily modified version of id Software's ''Quake'' engine. It originally made its debut in 1998 with ''Half-Life'', and would power future games developed b ...
engine, similar to its predecessor. Besides the multiplayer mode, it also included a single-player mode with a "full" campaign and bonus levels. The game received mixed reviews in contrast to its predecessor and was quickly followed with a further entry to the series titled ''
Counter-Strike: Source''.
''Source''
''Counter-Strike: Source'' was the first publicly released game by Valve to run on the Source engine. ''Counter-Strike: Source'' was initially released as a
beta
Beta (, ; uppercase , lowercase , or cursive ; grc, βῆτα, bē̂ta or ell, βήτα, víta) is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 2. In Modern Greek, it represents the voiced labiod ...
to members of the Valve Cyber Café Program on August 11, 2004.
On August 18, 2004, the beta was released to owners of ''
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero'' and those who had received a ''
Half-Life 2
''Half-Life 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed by Valve. It was published by Valve through its distribution service Steam. Like the original ''Half-Life'' (1998), ''Half-Life 2'' combines shooting, puzzles, and storytelling, and ...
'' voucher bundled with some
ATI
Ati or ATI may refer to:
* Ati people, a Negrito ethnic group in the Philippines
**Ati language (Philippines), the language spoken by this people group
** Ati-Atihan festival, an annual celebration held in the Philippines
*Ati language (China), a ...
Radeon video card
A graphics card (also called a video card, display card, graphics adapter, VGA card/VGA, video adapter, display adapter, or mistakenly GPU) is an expansion card which generates a feed of output images to a display device, such as a computer moni ...
s. While the original release only included a version for Microsoft Windows, the game eventually received a port to OS X on June 23, 2010, with a
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...
port afterwards in 2013.
''Global Offensive''
''Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' was the fourth release in the main, Valve-developed ''Counter-Strike'' series in 2012. Much like ''Counter-Strike: Source'' the game runs on the Source engine. It is available on Microsoft Windows, OSX, and Linux, as well as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles, and is backwards compatible on the Xbox One console.
Spin-offs
''Neo''
A Japanese arcade adaptation of ''Counter-Strike'', the original ''Half-Life'' multiplayer modification. It is published by Namco and runs on a
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...
system. The game involves anime-designed characters in a futuristic designed version of ''Counter-Strike''. A selection of single-player missions, mini-games, and seasonal events were added to prolong the game's interest with players.
''Online'' series
''Counter-Strike Online'' is a free-to-play spin-off available in much of eastern Asia. It was developed by
Nexon
Nexon Co., Ltd. is a global video game publisher, listed in Japan, that specializes in online Virtual World games for PCs, consoles and mobile. Nexon is one of the world’s ten largest interactive game companies based on market capitalization a ...
, with oversight from
Valve
A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fittings ...
. It uses a
micropayment
A micropayment is a financial transaction involving a very small sum of money and usually one that occurs online. A number of micropayment systems were proposed and developed in the mid-to-late 1990s, all of which were ultimately unsuccessful. A s ...
model that is managed by a custom version of the
Steam
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
back-end.
Announced in 2012 and aimed at the Asian gaming market, a sequel titled ''Counter-Strike Online 2'' was developed by
Nexon
Nexon Co., Ltd. is a global video game publisher, listed in Japan, that specializes in online Virtual World games for PCs, consoles and mobile. Nexon is one of the world’s ten largest interactive game companies based on market capitalization a ...
on the Source game engine and released in 2013.
''Nexon: Studio''
In August 2014, Nexon announced ''Counter-Strike Nexon: Zombies'', a free-to-play, zombie-themed spin-off, developed on the GoldSrc game engine.
On September 23, 2014, an open beta was released on Steam. The game launched on October 7, 2014, featuring 50 maps and 20 game modes.
The game features both
player versus player
Player versus player (PvP) is a type of multiplayer interactive conflict within a game between human players. This is often compared to player versus environment (PvE), in which the game itself controls its players' opponents. The terms are mos ...
modes such as
team deathmatch
Deathmatch, also known as free-for-all, is a gameplay mode integrated into many shooter games, including first-person shooter (FPS), and real-time strategy (RTS) video games, where the goal is to kill (or "frag") the other players' characters a ...
, hostage rescue, bomb defusal, and
player versus environment
Player versus environment or player versus enemy (PvE, also known as player versus monster (PvM)), is a term used for both single player and online games, particularly MMORPGs, CORPGs, MUDs, other online role-playing video games and survival game ...
modes such as cooperative campaign missions and base defending.
Reception from critics was generally negative with criticism aimed at the game's poor user interface, microtransactions,
and dated graphics.
On October 30, 2019, ''Counter-Strike Nexon: Zombies'' was renamed to ''Counter-Strike Nexon: Studio''.
Competitive play
''Counter-Strike'' has over 20 years of competitive play beginning with the original ''Counter-Strike''. The first major tournament was hosted in 2001 at the
Cyberathlete Professional League
The Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) was a professional sports tournament organization specializing in computer and console video game competitions. It was founded by Angel Munoz on June 27, 1997, in Dallas, Texas. The CPL is considered the ...
. Cyberathlete Professional League, along with
World Cyber Games
The World Cyber Games (WCG) is an international esports competition with multi-game titles in which hundreds of esports athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competitions also known as Esports Olympics. WCG events attempt to ...
and
Electronic Sports World Cup
The Electronic Sports World Convention (ESWC) (formerly known as Electronic Sports World Cup) is an international professional gaming championship. Every year, winners of national qualifier events around the world earn the right to represent thei ...
were among the largest tournaments for the ''Counter-Strike'' series until 2007. Since 2013, Valve have hosted
''Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' Major Championships with large prizes. These have become the most prestigious tournaments in CS:GO.
Reception
''Counter-Strike'' is considered one of the most influential first person shooters in history. The series has a large competitive community and has become synonymous with first person shooters.
, the ''Counter-Strike'' franchise has sold over 25 million units.
References
{{Authority control
Asymmetrical multiplayer video games
Counter-Strike
First-person shooters
Online games
Tactical shooter video games
Valve Corporation franchises
Valve Corporation games
Video game franchises
Video game franchises introduced in 1999
Video games about bomb disposal