Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Counter-Strike: A billion-dollar game built in a dorm room

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 478 posts

Re: Counter-Strike: A billion-dollar game built in a dorm room

#61

Post by mervz »

GlobalElite wrote: post #46

I grew up with CS1.6 and spent what must be thousands of hours on it before I turned 18. But I can't stand what Valve did to modern versions of CS. The reason? Gambling. So much fucking gambling everywhere. Other games have lootboxes, I hate them, but they are usually "contained" in the sense that you do not see them in every context surrounding the game. But because CS skins can be traded between players, there is n…

Hate it all you want, but it's the sole reason Counter-Strike still exists today. Without skins, Valve would have shut the door on the game (and quite possibly the company entirely).

Skins is literally a money printing machine.

Re: Counter-Strike: A billion-dollar game built in a dorm room

#63

Post by Loudergood »

mervz wrote: post #61
GlobalElite wrote: post #46

I grew up with CS1.6 and spent what must be thousands of hours on it before I turned 18. But I can't stand what Valve did to modern versions of CS. The reason? Gambling. So much fucking gambling everywhere. Other games have lootboxes, I hate them, but they are usually "contained" in the sense that you do not see them in every context surrounding the game. But because CS skins can be traded between players, there is n…

Hate it all you want, but it's the sole reason Counter-Strike still exists today. Without skins, Valve would have shut the door on the game (and quite possibly the company entirely). Skins is literally a money printing machine.

You don't think they make more money with Steam?

Re: Counter-Strike: A billion-dollar game built in a dorm room

#64

Post by pityJuke »

mervz wrote: post #61
GlobalElite wrote: post #46

I grew up with CS1.6 and spent what must be thousands of hours on it before I turned 18. But I can't stand what Valve did to modern versions of CS. The reason? Gambling. So much fucking gambling everywhere. Other games have lootboxes, I hate them, but they are usually "contained" in the sense that you do not see them in every context surrounding the game. But because CS skins can be traded between players, there is n…

Hate it all you want, but it's the sole reason Counter-Strike still exists today. Without skins, Valve would have shut the door on the game (and quite possibly the company entirely). Skins is literally a money printing machine.

> sole reason Counter-Strike still exists today

Every other live service manages with non-gambling skins. They have their own problems (usually around FOMO), but nowhere near the literal gambling that is CS.

> Valve would have shut the door on the game

In terms of not having any developers on it, sure, not impossible.

> (and quite possibly the company entirely)

Ahahahaha come on man, even without CS, Valve is one of the most profitable companies of all time.

Re: Counter-Strike: A billion-dollar game built in a dorm room

#65

Post by number6 »

simlevesque wrote: post #32

Heads up to those who played CS:GO years ago and like money. I was a pretty active player from 2012 to 2014. Back then I got dozens of crates that I didn't open, now worth as high as 31$CAD each. I looked it up last week and it's worth over a thousand dollars in Steam. I cashed in on almost half of it and now I have some cash to buy games for my family and friends.

That's already over ten years ago... Wow CS:GO is still the new CS for me, that never catched on and everybody played 1.6

Re: Counter-Strike: A billion-dollar game built in a dorm room

#66

Post by tiborsaas »

Loudergood wrote: post #15

Timely, I was just wondering yesterday (as I was launching the BF6 beta) if there was a current FPS with a mod scene like we had for Half Life and BF 1942. I can't seem to find anything.

Cyberpunk 2077 does seem to have a large audience making mods: https://www.nexusmods.com/games/cyberpunk2077/mods

edit: actually, I got it backwards, just browse nexus mods :)

Re: Counter-Strike: A billion-dollar game built in a dorm room

#67

Post by ViktorRay »

TheAceOfHearts wrote: post #47

Something that wasn't mentioned in the article is that Counter-Strike spawned the creation of the most iconic FPS map ever: de_dust2. If an FPS supports custom maps, it's inevitable that de_dust2 will get ported to it. There's actually a mini-documentary about the creation of de_dust2 [0] which I think will be of interest to FPS fans. I wonder if de_dust2 is the most played FPS map or if it has been dethroned by some…

Thanks for sharing this! Very interesting!

I believe de_dust2 is likely still the most played FPS map. Not sure which other map could have dethroned it. It can’t be Fortnite since Fortnite changes the map every few months and nowadays makes a new one every year or so.

I guess Blood Gulch from the time when Halo was super popular was a very popular map as well.

Then you also have 2fort from the Team Fortress games.

But yes I would say de_dust2 is very likely still the most played FPS map and it will likely stay that way.

Re: Counter-Strike: A billion-dollar game built in a dorm room

#68

Post by jameslk »

> After several other versions, Valve released Counter-Strike 2 in 2023 without Le’s direct handiwork.

This is closest the article gets to mentioning css and csgo. Both of those games were like 90% of my teens

Lots of history glossed over. Like the maps and plugins/addons. The mappers were legends in their own right

Re: Counter-Strike: A billion-dollar game built in a dorm room

#69

Post by thinkingQueen »

Beta 5.2 was when I had the best time with Counter-Strike. de_dust with a Colt was fun. Never forget the AWP snipers lurking near the big front door in cs_assault. There were some weird maps like cs_siege — I think it had some sort of a moving vehicle there somewhere in a tunnel.

Re: Counter-Strike: A billion-dollar game built in a dorm room

#70

Post by simlevesque »

number6 wrote: post #65
simlevesque wrote: post #32

Heads up to those who played CS:GO years ago and like money. I was a pretty active player from 2012 to 2014. Back then I got dozens of crates that I didn't open, now worth as high as 31$CAD each. I looked it up last week and it's worth over a thousand dollars in Steam. I cashed in on almost half of it and now I have some cash to buy games for my family and friends.

That's already over ten years ago... Wow CS:GO is still the new CS for me, that never catched on and everybody played 1.6

It's a new game now, CS2. CS:GO isn't accessible anymore. But the loot carried on to the new game.
Post reply on HN