The explosion in esports over the past couple of years has brought with us fresh fuel for an assortment of videogames. One of the most popular remains Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. What’s particularly remarkable about the game is that it was first released in 2012, and yet nearly a decade later, it’s still very much going strong.

It’s also a hugely popular game for those looking to bet on the outcome of matches. Here, for instance, is a link: for all your CSGO gambling needs players can use csgobook.com to find the latest games and referral codes.

What in particularly firmly boosted the popularity of the game too has been the move to a free-to-play model, that’s opened it up to a much bigger audience. This took place at the end of 2018, and it make a popular game even more successful.

In the aftermath of that decision, CS:GO has continued to be one of the top choices for those who like their first person shooters competitive online.

Of course it’s the likes of Fortnite that have really blasted open the idea of free-to-play as a viable model for games publishers (as well as other phenomena such as Candy Crush Saga). In the case of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – or CS:GO – it now brings together over ten million players every single month, and its success continues.

Amongst those ten million players are many professional gamers, attracted by major tournaments that first came to life back in 2013. In more recent times, the prize money for these tournaments has gone over the one million dollar mark in some cases. Furthermore, CS:GO tournaments are now getting television coverage, particularly in America, where professional games are being broadcast by the likes of Turner.

The television success is unsurprising, given that CS:GO is a game that’s really entertaining to just watch others playing. That it’s not just popular for the esports themselves, but for those who simple love watching brilliant games go toe to toe.

Developers Valve continue to evolve and grow the game itself too, and it’s a different beast from the version that launched all the way back in 2012, as you’d expect. Updates are made to the game now on a weekly basis, and the test for Valve is to keep providing challenges for the very elite of professional gamers, whilst also appealing to the most casual fan. Given the endurance and ongoing success of CS:GO, it’s fair to say that it’s managing to get that balance just right.