One of the most anticipated StarCraft 2 tournaments is just around the corner, with the world's best players getting ready to fight for their share of $500,000 in prize money.
A legendary esports event, the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Katowice is a CS:GO tournament held in Poland. In this guide, we'll go over all the participating teams, details about the schedule, as well as everything you need to know about IEM CS:GO betting!
The Dota Pro Circuit is in full flow. The next big tournament in this seasonal circuit is the PGL Arlington Major. Texas is the location, Esports Stadium Arlington is the venue of choice, and seventeen brilliant Dota 2 teams will be eyeing their chances here.
The LEC (League of Legends European Championship) is entering a new decade starting with the inaugural Winter split. From team rosters to an all-new tournament format, the league will be seeing much more competition.
Esports has reached incredible heights from its humble beginnings and we’re seeing competitiveness levels like never before. More and more esports countries are joining the fray across a multitude of esports games. One extremely popular genre of esports games is FPS games. Let’s look at what makes this genre special and how you can start your FPS betting adventure!
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An FPS game is a game where the player controls a character in the First-Person Camera view. FPS stands for First Person Shooter which makes all FPS games (shooting games) revolve around guns and ranged weapons.
Still, each FPS game is unique and can feature some wild revolutionary gameplay ideas. Call of Duty was one of the first large-scale FPS games with a highly developed story; something that would continue for years with every new Call of Duty release.
CSGO is (arguably) the best Counter Strike game ever; one that is polished, fun, and free to play (which wasn’t always the case). Most FPS lovers will tell you that their preferred FPS game is CSGO.
Overwatch and VALORANT both employ mechanics that differ from the usual FPS genre; in-game characters with specialized abilities, a variety of game modes, and interesting graphic styles make these games differ from the rest.
First Person Shooters have populated the esports space and have gotten on par with other popular esports genres such as MOBAs and Battle Royales. If you’re interested in placing some bets, there are hundreds of FPS esports tournaments throughout each year so you’ll have plenty of opportunities to do so.
FPS games are fast paced, relatively simple to take up, and offer impressive amounts of content. I mean content in terms of what is offered in conjunction with gameplay (ie. the number of guns in CSGO or heroes in Overwatch)
In a world of RTS games or MMORPGs, FPS games came out on top thanks to stark differences in gameplay.
Those who loved playing without having to prepare for matches in advance (ie. switching gear for boss fights in MMORPGs or waiting for your buildings to finish construction in RTS games) chose FPS games as their go-to gaming option.
On top of that, FPS games can be incredibly versatile when it comes to what type of content they contain and how the gameplay is conceptualized. Add to that the in-game control simplicity that most FPS games have and it’s evident why this genre has risen to the top and stayed there for years and years.
The FPS esports scene is also an inviting choice thanks to the high level of competitiveness between the top teams. So overall, if you want a quick gaming experience without having to worry about a plethora of difficult in-game mechanics – FPS games are the perfect choice.
Although there are dozens of esports FPS games out there, the five most popular ones are generally miles above every other FPS game. It’s worth mentioning that we haven’t included the likes of Apex Legends or PUBG into this list (even if they’re technically FPS games) because they fall into the Battle Royale category of games.
CSGO was released way back in 2012 and has undergone quite a lot of changes over the years. The game has been drastically expanded with new skins, mechanics, weapons, maps, and more.
It is also one of the easiest FPS games to get into, mainly because the whole premise is so simple. Either kill the entire enemy team or plant/defuse the bomb in time. Teamplay does require a certain dose of coordination and strategy but it’s not imperative to winning matches.
CSGO is inherently entertaining to watch, especially when the biggest CSGO esports teams go head-to-head in prestigious tournaments. Anything can happen and usually does, which makes it so interesting and fun to watch.
crisp clutch pic.twitter.com/Dxd0i17X9C — FaZe Clan CHAMPIONS #IEM (@ESLCS) August 19, 2021
crisp clutch pic.twitter.com/Dxd0i17X9C
— FaZe Clan CHAMPIONS #IEM (@ESLCS) August 19, 2021
CSGO’s esports history is a rich one with many teams achieving local and international success in esports tournaments. It might be the best choice to start your FPS betting career so feel free to tune in to a live stream of any upcoming or existing CSGO esports tournaments.
Rainbow Six: Siege was released in 2015 and it’s still going strong in both player count terms and esports health. To date, 35 attacking ‘operators’ (R6S’s name for in-game player-controlled characters) and 36 defending ones were released, bringing the playable character total to 71.
R6S is a difficult game to both learn and master. The whole premise behind it revolves around precise planning and excellent strategic plays, often relying on subterfuge and sneakiness.
Because of this, team cohesion is massively important, and this is what gives the game its difficulty. If two squads meet in a match where one is somewhat experienced at the game while the other has completely new players, the first squad will win as the second one’s players will simply be outsmarted and outplayed in every regard.
This is the nature of Rainbow Six: Siege but it’s also what gives the game its charm. If you ever want to see just how convoluted and impressive R6S gameplay is, check out an esports tournament or two and see how the professionals do it.
VALORANT is the newest game on our list having been released in 2020 by Riot Games, the company behind League of Legends.
VALORANT plays like an FPS game but it has a slight MOBA feeling to it. Matches are played 5v5 with players controlling ‘agents’ (VALORANT’s definition of in-game playable characters).
There are currently 19 available agents, each of which boasts unique abilities and playstyles. Thanks to the agents’ versatile kits, team compositions can sometimes be absolutely wild, especially in pro play.
VALORANT is also a medium-difficulty game. Some of the mechanics are reminiscent of Counter-Strike (the planting and defusing of a bomb, called the ‘Spike’ in VALORANT) so CSGO players will feel right at home. They’ll still need to adapt to using specialized abilities though.
Lastly, although VALORANT’s esports scene is young, we’ve already been treated to a couple of exceptional tournaments, especially the VALORANT Champions 2021 event. It’s also pretty popular among bettors as well due to its chaotic playstyle.
Overwatch came to the gaming scene in 2016 and was an instant hit. It featured a unique way of playing FPS games and became sort of an inspiration for similar games such as VALORANT (relatively similar mechanics surrounding the playable characters).
The game features 32 playable heroes with unique abilities and playstyles. Each team features 6 players which we haven’t seen in previous FPS games where most of them are 5v5. It is a fast paced game with a multitude of game modes so its replay value is through the roof.
It’s also one of the few esports FPS games with a franchised league system; most teams are official partners or contestants of the league and there is no promotion/demotion system for participating teams.
His performance cannot be denied! Your #OWL2021 Grand Finals MVP is @socutelip! pic.twitter.com/TsknwM1SwL — Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) September 26, 2021
His performance cannot be denied!
Your #OWL2021 Grand Finals MVP is @socutelip! pic.twitter.com/TsknwM1SwL
— Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) September 26, 2021
Overwatch has some of the most consistently large prize pools across their league system, with the second, third, and fourth iterations of the Overwatch League having more than $3,000,000 in prize money.
The Call of Duty series is an interesting one for betting because each new game that comes out almost instantly starts being part of the esports scene. Nowadays, you’ll be able to find CoD Warzone, CoD Modern Warfare, and CoD Black Ops 4 tournaments regularly.
Therefore it isn’t worthwhile covering just one game but rather, placing them all together under one section. Because the truth is, most CoD games play the same except for Warzone which is more of a Battle Royale style FPS game.
It’s also one of the longest-lasting FPS franchises in the world, with the first Call of Duty going back all the way to 2003. The in-game mechanics are quite simple – wipe out the enemy team in 4v4 matches.
Due to the franchise’s nature, you’ll have plenty of betting opportunities across a few of these games which is great since there’s loads of action all the time. On the other hand, it might be too much focusing on all of them, so our advice is for you to focus on just one CoD game that you like the most.
FPS stands for ‘First Person Shooter’ and involves the camera/vision position to be where the player model’s eyes would be. Most of these games do not have the ability to switch cameras, but some allow you to switch to the third-person view.
Currently, the most popular FPS game is CSGO with a huge active player count – almost more than 550,000 players per day. A close second is VALORANT with slightly below 530,000 players per day on average.
Surprisingly, the largest FPS esports tournament (prize pool-wise) was the Call of Duty League Championship in 2020 which featured an incredible $4,600,000 in prize pool money. For being one of the less popular FPS esports games nowadays, this is an achievement in and of itself.
There are dozens of FPS games present in the esports ecosystem but not all of them are popular among bettors. Out of those that are, CSGO, Rainbow Six Siege, and recently VALORANT are some examples of popular FPS betting choices. Some bookies also offer impressive betting bonuses so make sure to check that out before you start placing your bets.
CSGO is exceptionally easy to get into. The gameplay and mechanics are easy to understand but this doesn’t mean you’ll be good at it from the get-go. Other games require more experience due to certain in-game mechanics. Prime examples of this are Overwatch and VALORANT where, if you want to learn the game, you also have to learn character abilities – something that takes quite a lot of time.