Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
Following the in the (well worn) footprints of Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike Source has re-fashioned itself into a Virtual Firearms Collectors wet dream.
adding very little to the acual game play, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive developers (Valve) have re-birthed the franchize into one of the largest (globaly offensive) titles to date.
Bravo Valve.

*****

Post script 2017.
Counter Strike: Global Offensive has redeemed itself in terms of community content creation and content developed by VALVe.
New items like Molotov, tazer, assault armor and more.
New and innovative game modes and an ever increasingly popular esport community.
It is safe to say cs:go has lived up to the foot print of its predecessor and is poised to remain relative.
Bravo.
Kudos.

******
2022

"Ten years. It’s a big number, yet CS:GO is stronger than ever. Over the past 12 months alone, we’ve seen more players than ever before (averaging over 20 million monthly unique players), record viewership for Majors (2.7m concurrent viewers), and massive community support with over $70 million raised for professional organizations, teams, and players. The future could not look brighter.

Happy Birthday, CS:GO."

*****
08-03-2023

"Counter-Strike is at its best when teams compete on a level playing field and when ability is the only limit to their success.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen professional Counter-Strike drift away from that ideal. The ecosystem has become gradually less open, with access to the highest levels of competition increasingly gated by business relationships.

We think that Counter-Strike should be an open sport. So we’re going to add new requirements to running large-scale competitive events. The finer details are still in progress, but here are the broad strokes:
Tournament organizers will no longer have unique business relationships or other conflicts of interest with teams that participate in their events.

Invitations to all tournaments will use our ranking system (detailed here), or otherwise be determined by open qualifiers.

Any compensation for participating teams—prize pool or otherwise—will be made public and will be driven by objective criteria that can be inspected by the community.
Since tournament organizers have existing long term commitments, these requirements will take effect as of 2025. There will be some rough edges to the transition, but we’re committed to the long-term health of Counter-Strike as a sport and are looking forward to its bright and open future."