Deadlock is Opening Old Wounds for Counter-Strike Fans
Valve is a household name among millions of gamers. Whether players know the corporation for its purchasing platform Steam or smash-hit game franchises including Counter-Strike and DOTA 2, it has played a vital role in countless childhoods and created incredible gaming memories. Not everything about Valve is rainbows and sunshine, though — an age-old war has been waging between Counter-Strike and DOTA 2 fans over perceived favoritism towards the latter title.
Valve's newest release Deadlock is already a stellar success, However, as Deadlock's popularity grows, it reopens old wounds and is causing fans to question once again if Valve is playing favorites. Let's explore everything we know about this ongoing controversy including the esports community's current thoughts.
Valve: An Esports Legend
Valve is one of the most well-known video game corporations and has maintained a presence in the esports industry for decades. Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington co-founded the company in 1996, and it has since given rise to gaming developments including Steam, Half-Life, Team Fortress, Counter-Strike and DOTA. Valve's co-founder Gabe Newell (affectionately known as Gaben) is still heavily involved in the corporation and is an icon to millions of gamers. Gaben has become a bit of an internet meme, and he is well-known for his quirky and wholesome activities including fun interactions with fans and silly skits.
Counter-Strike's Origins
Counter-Strike is one of Valve's most well-known developments. The game's first-person shooter format, co-op gameplay and simple format attracted players around the globe upon release and it became a smash hit. As Counter-Strike's player base grew, the competition between players intensified and a major tournament scene began to emerge.
Since Counter-Strike's original release in 2000, the franchise has given rise to titles including 2012's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and 2023's Counter-Strike 2. Both games attracted millions of players and spawned a thriving esports scene. Counter-Strike games have created countless childhood memories for generations, and Counter-Strike esports stars like Stewie2k, Simple, Niko, ZywOo and olofmeister have become household names. The PGL Major Copenhagen 2024, one of Counter-Strike 2's most prestigious esports tournaments, amassed over 1,800,000 viewers this year.
Counter-Strike vs. DOTA: The Controversy
Defense of the Ancients, more commonly knowns as DOTA, does Valve also create a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) franchise. DOTA originated as a mod for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos in 2002 before eventually releasing as a separate game, DOTA 2, in 2013. In DOTA 2, two teams of five players compete with varying abilities to take control of a map and destroy the enemy team's base.
DOTA 2, like Counter-Strike, has a large esports scene. Its most prestigious tournament is known as The International (TI). Gabe Newell is known to appear at most DOTA 2 TI events, where he generally gives a welcome speech before the tournament begins.
While Gaben's involvement in DOTA 2 is generally quite wholesome, fans were quick to notice that he and Valve had never given Counter-Strike the same treatment. To date, Gaben has never made an appearance at a Counter-Strike major. In addition, DOTA 2's prize pool as of 2020 was more than double that of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive's.
Some Counter-Strike players seem unaffected by this information: Reddit user mfrsazmn comically quipped on one post about Gaben's absence from Counter-Strike tournaments, "lol he’s not your dad. What do you want from him?". However, Valve's treatment of DOTA 2 in comparison to Counter-Strike has remained a sore point in the community for years.
Counter-Strike vs. Deadlock: The Controversy (The Sequel)
Deadlock entered the esports world with a bang this year and has a player base regularly reaching 100,000 concurrent members. Its launch was so successful that some legendary esports personalities from other games including AverageJonas are quitting to fully focus on Deadlock careers. A tracker website has already emerged to track hero win rates and in-game stats. Things are looking up for the ability-based multiplayer shooter, and it's already receiving notice worldwide.
Players aren't the only ones excited about Deadlock's success — in an unheard-of occurance, Gaben is replying to fans' emails asking for invites to the game. On August 29 2024, Reddit user ivyx123 posted in the Deadlock subreddit revealing Gaben had sent them an Alpha access key to the game after they emailed him.
Aside from Gaben's involvement, Valve is giving Deadlock regular patch notes updates. The most recent Deadlock update extensively reworked 17 of the game's heroes and altered many in-game features. It also fixed countless bugs to improve player experience. This update released on August 30, 2021. All this seems innocent enough, but soon chaos would break loose. Nine days later, Counter-Strike's 9/9/2024 patch notes would release — and to players' shock, the update included just two lines.
How is the esports community reacting?
“it’s really telling how valve had enough funds and staff to create a whole new game instead of making cs2 the best version of cs ever”
— Deadlock Intel (@IntelDeadlock) September 8, 2024
Counterstrike creators are NOT happy with Valve investing in Deadlock pic.twitter.com/zBR2DNpkre
Discontent was already brewing before Counter-Strike's disappointing September 9 2024 update. Counter-Strike content creator and ohnePixel's manager @donacsgo stated on September 8 2024, "its really telling how valve had enough funds + staff to create a whole new game (deadlock) instead of making cs2 the best version of cs ever [...] valve just doesn't care." The tweet has since received over 4,000 likes and 293,000 interactions.
Counterstrike players are pissed and blaming Deadlock after CS2’s latest update only included 2 lines pic.twitter.com/EOBfb7tQWt
— Deadlock Intel (@IntelDeadlock) September 10, 2024
The minimal Counter-Strike update that followed certainly did not do much to soothe the situation, especially with Deadlock's vast patch notes in comparison. Counter-Strike esports personalities @mattewcs_ and @Mauisnake are among those voicing discontent. In addition, @ClimaX88 humorously stated "There must be just only 1 dev available for CS2.. the rest of the team is all switched to Deadlock."
Only time will tell if Valve will redeem itself in the eyes of the Counter-Strike community, or if Deadlock will be yet another massive esports presence from the company that makes CS fans feel neglected
GABBY DESENA