The name Counter-Strike is known, perhaps, to anyone who is at least somewhat interested in games. It is curious that the release of the first version in the face of Counter-Strike 1.0 Beta, which was a custom modification for the original Half-Life, took place exactly two decades ago. Surely now many feel older.
The ideological inspirers and the first developers of Counter-Strike were Minh Le (Minh Lê), also known under the pseudonym Gooseman, and Jess Cliff (Jess Cliffe) with the nickname Cliffe. At the beginning of 1999, the SDK for creating modifications for the now legendary Half-Life shooter had just appeared, so work began to boil over the winter. In mid-March, the now-famous name Counter-Strike was coined and the first sites dedicated to modifications appeared. Finally, on June 19, 1999, the first beta version of the shooter was presented, and online servers were launched in the autumn.
Thanks to the popularity of Half-Life and the free modification, Counter-Strike quickly gained wide recognition and began to compete with such influential commercial projects as Quake III Arena and Unreal Tournament at the time. All this was noticed by the developers of Half-Life represented by Valve Software, who in the spring of 2000 joined the multiplayer project, promising material and moral support. The company bought all the rights to the game and hired both creators to its staff, and on November 8, 2000, the paid Counter-Strike 1.0 was launched.
Of course, the first beta version was very different from the most famous options in the face of Counter-Strike 1.5, Counter-Strike 1.6, Counter-Strike: Source or the modern Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, but it was the event 20 years ago that became the beginning of a big a path that has changed the entire industry of team games and eSports, and also led to the emergence of many projects that imitate Counter-Strike or develop the ideas underlying it.
Speaking about the history of the famous series, one cannot fail to mention the long-suffering Counter-Strike: Condition Zero from Rogue Entertainment, Gearbox Software and Ritual Entertainment. It was released in 2004 and did not receive much popularity. This is the only official game in the series with a story campaign (in the form of a separate game Condition Zero: Deleted Scenes). In the process of creation, the development teams changed several times, the approach was delayed, so by the time of launch the game turned out to be technically outdated, especially against the backdrop of Counter-Strike: Source released in the same year.
Source: 3dnews.ru