Shooter pro Tyson “TenZ” Van Ngo made a name for himself with Valorant. There he was considered a master, but he also has strong opinions about other shooters. He apparently sees no bright future for Counter-Strike 2 (Steam) at Valve. They are said to neglect the game in favor of the new MOBA hybrid Deadlock, which he predicts a bright future for. TenZ blames Valve’s boss Gabe Newell for this, claiming he hates Counter-Strike and is a “MOBA guy.”
This is what TenZ says about Counter-Strike 2: In a livestream, TenZ was asked what he believes the future holds for both of Valve’s games, Counter-Strike 2 and Deadlock.
According to TenZ, Counter-Strike is only receiving an “alibi treatment” from Valve; the shooter is essentially in maintenance mode like the shooter Team Fortress 2:
- The upgrade from CS:GO to Counter-Strike 2 was only about bringing the game to the Source 2 engine.
- As an example of how little is happening in Counter-Strike 2, he points out that CS2 received nothing major for its 1st birthday.
- TenZ says: Valve treats Counter-Strike like a “damn adopted child.”
Deadlock receives preferential treatment
This is how he sees Deadlock: According to TenZ, Valve would shower the new MOBA-shooter hybrid Deadlock with love and therefore neglect Counter-Strike:
But the other reason is that they can just do it and say they did something and then fully work on Deadlock and release two complete patches with content. New characters, new jungle camps, new items, and everything, new graphics, every two weeks. But, happy birthday Counter-Strike, you got nothing.
TenZ believes: Gabe Newell simply hates Counter-Strike
What is the reason? TenZ singles out Gabe Newell as the person who likely hates Counter-Strike. Although the shooter has earned him billions of US dollars, he is never seen at events or tournaments, but is always present at the big DOTA 2 tournaments.
He is likely just a “MOBA guy” and therefore prefers Deadlock now. Because that is, after all, a MOBA.
TenZ is sure:
The guy just hates Counter-Strike. The game brings the studio a ridiculous amount of money and he’s like, “Meh.”
This is what’s behind it: Gabe Newell’s personal preferences surely play no role here, but it actually seems that Counter-Strike 2 is doing extremely well, yet Valve’s focus has clearly shifted to DOTA 2 and Deadlock over the past year. TenZ says there has been little new with Counter-Strike 2. The huge esports cycle is running, and Valve makes a fortune with skins, but there has been a lot of criticism about the game itself, especially from established figures like shroud or s1mple.
While there have been significant changes and revisions in DOTA 2, and apparently many resources have flowed into Deadlock. Regarding the analysis of what is happening, you can thus agree with TenZ, while the reason for this remains open: One of the best Counter-Strike players of all time says you shouldn’t play CS2 right now
