The broadcasters have edited the player models and added a blue colouring to the Counter-Terrorist players, and a corresponding orange colouring to the Terrorist players.
It’s kind of a jarring change at first. Counter-Strike is known, if not for realism, then verisimilitude — creating a plausible simulation of reality. Its matches take place on maps based off of real-life locations, its factions are modelled off real-life groups. (Recent updates, which trend towards a slightly “wackier” game, have been controversial among some fans for that reason.) The bright blue and orange creates a clash with that. But I felt that my eyes adjusted quite quickly after the initial surprise. In fact, I actually quite like the change.
One reason why I like this is it simplifies things. There are seven different maps in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and they do not share very many assets. There are 5 different Counter-Terrorist factions and 5 different Terrorist factions, and the change between the different maps can be confusing to new fans. It certainly caught me a bit by surprise when I started watching. The use of blue and orange creates a simple colour palette that at allows fans to instantly tell which team is which (and match up the colours on the HUD to the teams playing) in a way that you can’t do if you’re trying to tell the difference between a team in camo and a team in black.
This is not by itself the end goal, though— hence why I’m still thinking about it. One aspect that a lot of esports have struggled with, compared to real-life sports, is differentiating teams from one another in-game. The need to use consistent player models to ensure fairness in gameplay means that in-game opportunities to establish team branding are limited, and decals and stickers usually need the co-operation of the game’s developers — who often prefer to focus their development time elsewhere. But for broadcasts — with client-side enhancements that the players don’t have to see — the possibilities are far more open.
Here’s a hypothetical. It’s the BLAST Premier Global Finals. You tune in to watch Astralis take on NaVi and you see Astralis line up in CT spawn with a red tint to their player models, like the iconic red star of Astralis’ logo. Menawhile, at T spawn, NaVi have yellow outfits to match their own colour, with NATUS VINCERE written on their chests. In place of the logos used in some models, the teams have their own sponsors given pride of place — which ensures they get more exposure as well. Now the players are not only representing their team outside the screen, but in the game as well.
Suddenly it’s easier for a new fan to understand what is going on. They can match the colours of the team’s logos up to the teams playing in the same way they would for a regular sporting game with the players’ shirts. The brand is no longer limited to the shirts the players are wearing but is a core part of the gameplay you’re watching.
Now let’s take this one step further. The week after the tournament, you decide you want to represent Astralis in the game. You load up your copy of the game and, alongside the usual in-game purchases, you can buy an in-game skin that matches the Astralis colours used in the broadcast. In-game stickers for weaponry is already a thing in Counter-Strike, so this would be a logical next step. Teams would love the opportunity to promote themselves (and make a tidy amount of money on the side.) It even makes sense with Valve placing a greater emphasis on player agents in recent updates.
Players and teams have their own colours already — that’s why they pour money into creating jerseys for both fans and players to wear. But it’s rare to see it in the game, and that is a missed opportunity. I’d like to see more broadcasters use what Relog and GRID are doing — and I’d hope that Valve might notice as well.
