This year our editorial office celebrates two birthdays at once – exactly ten years ago we started covering eSports on Virtuspro.org, and five years ago Cybersport.ru was launched. We invite you to indulge in a little nostalgia and remember what we wrote about in the days of our two discoveries!
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April 2011 – everything is just beginning
In 2011, the official return of the Virtus.pro team to the professional Counter-Strike 1.6 scene took place, and with it the launch of the information portal www.virtuspro.org. In addition to news about the team, the site covered all major tournaments and transfers, published highlights and interviews of professional players – it was this resource that later became Cybersport.ru.
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Virtuspro.org in April 2011
Shortly after the announcement, the captain of the Counter-Strike team published his first blog on the website. Alexey LeX Kolesnikov, who spoke in more detail about the merger of Iron Will and Virtus.pro. Not long before that, Kolesnikov took part in the program “Icon of Games” on the MTV Russia TV channel – where the Russian esportsman gave an assessment of the game Homefront, which became the main topic of the broadcast.
“There is a lot of equipment, some kind of action is constantly going on, everything explodes, everyone is attacking everywhere. Therefore, if this were possible, then the guys and I would be allowed into such a virtual field together. Someone would shoot everyone there with a “sniper”, someone would be a tough tanker, but we would do everything together. “
By the way, it was not the first time for the captain of Virtus.pro to play on MTV. Back in 2006, he and the team participated in the presentation of the winners of the MTV gaming awards.
Virtus.pro project manager Anton Sneg1 Cherepennikov also published a blog in which he thanked the people who helped develop the Virtus.pro and Iron Will community. He also gave an interview in which he shared his opinion on the salaries of esports players and the system of penalties at Iron Will. By the way, GamesWorld journalist Mark Averbukh was interviewed – today he works as the director of products for Epic Esports Events.
“It was like this: being late – a fine of $ 100, the second being late -“ free ”. And when the first two players were 20 minutes late for the LAN training in Rush3D, they realized that they really had $ 100 less at the end of the month, and this became a huge incentive to take everything more seriously. Now people come to trainings 15 minutes before the start. “
A few days after the launch of the site, Virtus.pro executives announced an online conference with the project participants. During it, the players answered questions from journalists and portal visitors, and also talked to fans.
Just a couple of months after this event, there were big changes in Virtus.pro CS 1.6 roster – the team completely changed the roster, and its leader Aleksey LeX Kolesnikov went intoactive. They were replaced by USSR players led by captain Dmitry hoochR Bogdanov and manager Anton Cyclone Lapshenkov. The club soon signed its first major sponsor, BenQ. Together with her, rosters in other disciplines came to the organization, and news on StarCraft II, World of Tanks and War Inc. began to appear on the site.
The home site of Virtus.pro has gradually started to turn into an e-sports news resource. A YouTube channel appeared (which was later renamed RuHub), and the main page began to cover international transfers and tournaments. Even those in which Virtus.pro players did not participate.
April 2016 is no longer Virtus.pro
In 2016, the edition www.virtus.pro refused to be attached to the popular Russian team and launched a new independent media resource – Cybersport.ru. Virtus.pro soon had its own website.
“Many of you, having visited the familiar site www.virtus.pro, were surprised to find yourself on a completely different resource. The same team that worked on creating content for Virtus.pro will work on the new site. We have spent a lot of time and effort to turn the bears’ site into the largest informational cybersport hub in the CIS. “
Cybersport.ru’s design was significantly different from the usual Virtus.pro website. A more convenient section with matches has appeared, as well as separate blocks for videos and streams. The so-called one-line news – Hotnews – was very popular. The main innovation is the database with the history of matches, achievements and transfers of teams.
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Cybersport.ru in April 2016
2016 turned out to be rich in esports events and high-profile announcements. It was in this year that the first tournament of the EPICENTER series took place, which brought together the best Dota 2 teams in the world at the Crocus City Hall. One of the features of the final stage of the event was a special presentation of the film “Warcraft” with the film’s director Duncan Jones – it was organized thanks to partnership tour operator Epic Esports Events with Legendary Pictures and Universal Pictures.
Any Virtus.pro fan knows that it was in 2016 that the legendary Dota 2 club roster appeared, which included Alexey Solo Berezin, Vladimir No[o]ne Minenko, Roman RAMZES666 Kushnarev, Pavel 9pasha Khvastunov and Ilya lil me alone Ilyuk. For a long time this team became the undisputed leader in the CIS and one of the strongest teams on the international stage.
“When players get together for new line-ups, they only talk about the game; many do not even read contracts and regulations, and then they are surprised at the requirements. Initially, I asked the players to write a list of what they want from teammates, and until they agreed between themselves how they see the team, I waited. Now everyone is sure that they want to play with each other, and, I hope, they understand what the management expects of them. Already next week, guys from big sports are coming to Virtus.pro, and I really want to believe that it will work. Also, a large training base is being built for the players in the new arena. I wish these five to become real professionals and be successful in the game. ”
Great changes took place that year in the CS: GO roster of Natus Vincere. Oleksandr s1mple Kostylev, one of the best players in the history of the discipline, who has remained so for the past five years, came to the Ukrainian club from Team Liquid. Simultaneously with this transfer, the legendary captain Daniil Zeus Teslenko was removed from the main NAVI roster. He was inactive for several months, then joined Gambit Esports and six months later led the team to victory at PGL Major Kraków 2017.
Another interesting highlight of 2016 was the brilliant game Wings Gaming. In just a few months, a little-known Chinese Dota 2 team that rarely made it out of regional qualifiers won four major international tournaments, including The International 2016 with a prize pool of $ 20.7 million. Many Dota 2 fans still fondly remember that Wings roster. Gaming for a large pool of heroes and variable strategies. Not every world champion dared to take Pudge in the final series!
Ten years is a long time in the esports industry, but for our editorial staff this is only the beginning of the journey. We hope that we will celebrate the next anniversaries in the company of our beloved readers.
