INSIDER ESPORTS -- Kai talks about the 'death' of Counter Strike: Source.

Is Counter-Strike Source dead?

Many have asked this question since the closing of the Championship Gaming Series.

Having picked up Source after a seven month break which included a brief stint in both 1.6 and World of Warcraft, it came to my attention that the skill level of the players has dropped tremendously compared to the days of Source being aired on TV.

During that same period, Source LAN tournaments were at an all-time high and players seemed to have more skill on both the professional and amateur scene.

Since the demise of CGS, most players have returned to 1.6 including American player fRoD, warden, da_bears, zid and so many more. Of course, with the players returning to the older game, it left the Source scene to once again live in the shadows and to be forgotten until another go around with TV, if that should ever occur.

The players who chose not to return to 1.6 either took a break from the game to focus on their own personal life, or found source teams to compete with.

Nickn0it, a star AWPer for NY.3D in the CGS, has taken time away to focus on college. Rambo an ex-player for both Complexity and Team 3D has been dedicating time playing Source instead of returning to 1.6 like his former teammates, as well as doing shoutcasting and now “endorsing” the company MaxFrag.

At one point in time, the teams that were most commonly seen in CEVO P for Source were the same teams that competed in the CGS.  Today, if you looked at the CEVO P teams, you would see different teams every year besides the common ones such as x3o and Dynamic.

While many organizations continue to hold tournaments for Source, no one can deny that most of the attention has gone back to 1.6.

The first time that ESEA will hold playoffs on LAN and it’s for 1.6. News that players are being picked up by teams are usually being made by 1.6.

When Cyber Revolution picked up a Source team with big names on the roster, which include clowN, mOE, Ramb0, mustang, pOs, and warmach1ne, who covered that besides their own site or IRC? Not a lot of sites.
When Eximius picked up sasquatch, ChEekz, kurridGe!, anger and railm0, who covered that? Not a lot of sites.

When EG picked up former coL players’ fRoD, warden, storm and hanes to play with n0thing in 1.6, it seemed to hit every site imaginable. Yes, they were players known for what they’ve done, but that doesn’t change the point that 1.6 gets much more hype than Source does.

Everyone argues that Source takes no skill and that 1.6 is harder. I will agree that 1.6 is harder, but have you ever tried to pick up a game, which you’ve never played before and be good at it?

If you go into any pub, you will find players that don’t get any kills at all in both versions of Counter Strike. It’s not something that only occurs in 1.6, it occurs in Source too.

Source doesn’t get the credit it deserves in my opinion.

Source is a game that still has much to improve on, but the same applies for all the bugs and glitches in 1.6. If Valve would stop consistently updating TF2 or L4D for about 2-3 weeks or even to fix steam every other day, they would have the time to find these bugs and make the game more complete.

To all you 1.6 players out there, stop bashing on Source. To all the Source players out there, stop hating on 1.6.

Hopefully in the future we will see a game with better, improved graphics with the 1.6 hit boxes so that both parties stop complaining about the lack of skill a game takes or how a game is less visual appealing than the other.

At the end of the day, the question still remains.

Is Counter Strike Source dead?