British Counter-Strike in 2024: game over or all to play for?

Counter-Strike occupies a precarious position in British esports. In 2020, one in seven Britons described themselves as an “esports fan” — double the number from 2017 and a figure that’s expected to rise — but the competitive Counter-Strike scene in the UK has failed to keep up.

In 2008, a fully British team of players, Birmingham Salvo, won the Counter-Strike: Source CGS World Championship and the $250,000 that came with it. At DreamHack Winter 2012, playing the newly released Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, a majority-British mousesports bested top teams in CPH Wolves and Fnatic, placing an admirable 3rd-4th place after they were finally stopped by Ninjas in Pyjamas, who were at that time the unrivalled top dog and would go on to achieve a legendary 87-0 win streak.

Over a decade later, the UK’s relevance in the competitive scene — now played on the brand-new Counter-Strike 2 — has diminished considerably. The highest-ranked UK team, Endpoint, sits outside the top 50 worldwide, according to the ranking of trusted news site HLTV.org.

A few Brits can be found scattered among successful international rosters, most notably Vitality’s William “mezii” Merriman. The 25-year-old joined the French organisation, which currently ranks at #2 according to HLTV, on November 8.

“I think right now we have some great teams on a domestic level,” explained Dafydd Gwynn, a freelance journalist and co-owner of Counter-Strike news website UKCSGO. “But, unfortunately, we’ve never really seen that success trend into the international scene.”

Gwynn said one or two teams might make it to the Major qualifier. A Counter-Strike Major is held two or three times a year, sponsored by the game’s creator Valve Corporation, and has a prize pool of at least $1 million (~£780,000). The next is due to take place in Copenhagen March 2024. London’s Wembley Arena hosted a Major in 2018; no British teams were in attendance, though two players had the opportunity to compete in front of a home crowd.

No British player has lifted the coveted Major trophy, though three got close in Paris last May, falling in their under-dog run at the final hurdle to Vitality. That success was an extreme outlier and, since then, two of them have left for international teams. “There is a trend this year, especially in the second half, where we’ve seen really up and coming youngsters [join international rosters]”, explained Gwynn.

Despite the lack of international success for British teams, and the tendency for top players to move abroad, there is a lively domestic scene. Hundreds of players, the vast majority unsalaried, battle it out at local LANs, regional competitions, and national tournaments.

Peter Thompson, Endpoint’s Chief Operating Officer, said the domestic Counter-Strike scene has “gone through waves” of strength and weakness, but thought “it is on the way back up”.

“We’ve got some really good teams and a lot of good talent coming through,” he said. “I see a future for it, which is good, but I think there just needs to be a lot more working together in the scene.”

Max "MiGHTYMAX" Heath is the captain of Endpoint's Counter-Strike team and has represented the organisation since 2016. He is also a board member of the British Counter-Strike Association (BCSA), set up in December 2022, which aims to nurture talent in the domestic scene and help equip younger players with the skills and know-how to play Counter-Strike for a living.

"I think there's only really positives to look forward to in the UK scene," Heath said. "I think there's been a long period of decline — or periods where the player base has dwindled and teams have fallen apart — but I think that's behind us now."

"There's going to be a team that comes through and shows what they're capable of but it's going to take some time," he added.

“The UK [domestic] scene is quite healthy,” agreed Gwynn. “You’ve got your traditional big LAN like BLAST and ESL where you play on the stage against your opponents and there’s a big crowd. What the UK has is BYOC [Bring Your Own Computer] LANs, like EPIC.LAN.”

EPIC.LAN runs a yearly event at Kettering Leisure Village, where participants bring their own computers and compete against each other across a range of gaming titles, including Valorant, StarCraft and Counter-Strike 2. The LAN is one of the biggest BYOC events in Europe.

Gwynn stressed the importance of the LAN atmosphere and experience: “You’ve got people screaming and shit talking you. But the most important thing, in my opinion, is that after the games everyone chats to each other, they go to the bar, they have a drink, they go outside. It’s basically a whole weekend where, yes, you got to be competitive, but you also get to socialise with these people. And that’s how you get your team offers.”

But there have been recent setbacks. EPIC.LAN’s venue in Kettering was threatened with closure earlier this year, though it has since been able to remain partly open. Another UK tournament, run by the Electronic Sports League (ESL) was discontinued this year, severing an important route British players had towards professional play.

“The ESL UK Premiership doesn’t exist anymore,” said Gwynn. “If you won that event, then you got to compete in the Conference Finals. And if you came top two in that, you got to attend ESL Pro League, an international LAN event.”

When it comes to achieving professional status, some players might not be able to afford to try. Gwynn said the cost of living crisis means that many salaried players still need to work part-time jobs, whereas in European countries they could focus all their attention on competing. Organisations are hesitant, Thompson explained, to invest the much-needed capital. “There needs to be more businesses investing in grassroots teams,” he said.

Even if salaries aren’t great, Gwynn said that representation from organisations is crucial. “It means they can have their travel and hotel paid for, usually, and does a lot for their marketing and content. It’s so important, if you’re an up and coming player, to have a brand.”

All three said there was reason to be optimistic about the future. Last weekend, Endpoint hosted a LAN at their Sheffield headquarters, as part of a new United Kingdom & Ireland Circuit (UKIC). “We’re hoping to have a whole ‘path to pro’ model,” Thompson said. “So you can be a noob and join at the bottom and grow all the way up to the top.”

“These LAN events help sponsorships to come in and generate more hype — it just means more on LAN,” he added.

It was recently announced by tournament organiser BLAST that a top-tier international tournament is to be held at Wembley Arena in June 2024. What impact this will have on the domestic scene is unclear. Heath said that without UK-specific invites, the closed-circuit league event was "just another event". "But," he added, "you could definitely argue that audiences could be enticed to play and join the UK CS scene."

Likewise, Gwynn said it’s almost impossible a majority-British team will be in attendance, but hoped it would generate interest: “The impact of this London LAN might be that fans of Counter-Strike from the UK start to become UK Counter-Strike fans.”

A glimmer of hope in a future otherwise shrouded by doubt and danger.