#Pro counter strike global offensive update#
#Pro counter strike global offensive skin#

#Pro counter strike global offensive skin#

(Image credit: Snail Juice) Skin gambling I think the growth of the game would have been massively hurt without the introduction of skins, all you have to do is look at the trend of other games implementing the same or similar cosmetics.' 'It introduced cosmetics to the game which attracted lots of new players, as well as creating sponsorships for tournaments and teams. 'The addition of skins was fundamental to the growth of the game,' says Max 'MiGHTYMAX' Heath, a pro player for Team Endpoint who has been at the top level for over seven years.

Without the money that third party skin trading and gambling sites (opens in new tab) made through taking commissions on trades, or just being a straight-up casino, as well as the sticker money directly made by pro teams through in game sales, it’s likely the pro scene would be considerably smaller than it is today, as skin-related sites funded a significant amount of teams and tournaments for many years, even to this day, the current number one ranked team in the world, NAVI, are sponsored by trading site CS.Money. Skins allowed the community to be collectors and allowed a form of self-expression we had not seen before.'Īs skins grew in popularity an economy grew around trading them and, while there were a lot of issues (more on that soon), the money they brought in helped the game’s pro scene significantly. 'Counter-Strike is one of those titles that comes along very few times in a generation that spawns a grassroots community of contributors to the game and has its own culture-the maps people make, the timeless moments the game has made (door stuck, anyone?) and many other things. 'The skins ecosystem for CS:GO was very important it set a lot of benchmarks beyond just the game itself for what items can mean to this generation of games, but it also expanded the ecosystem of Counter-Strike for users in a very important way,' says James Bardolph, a top CS:GO caster. Over the years to come CS:GO would popularise the practice by showing how skins created their own mini-economy that both brought more eyes to the game and more money to the scene in general. Without them it’s likely the game wouldn’t be anywhere near as popular as it is today, even though skins were nowhere near as prevalent as they are today.

#Pro counter strike global offensive update#

The addition of skins a year after CS:GO launched was the most important update the game has ever seen. 'Skins allowed the community to be collectors and allowed a form of self-expression we had not seen before.' James Bardolph