Today, on June 19, Counter-Strike celebrates its latest birthday, marking exactly 25 years since the release of the game's first beta version.
To commemorate this occasion, Perfect World, the publisher of CS in China, announced a large-scale celebration for the game's anniversary. The preliminary event announcement hints at a new operation.
The first version of Counter-Strike was released on June 19, 1999, as a modification to Half-Life. In 2000, Valve acquired the rights to the game from its creators, Minh Le and Jess Cliffe (who were subsequently hired by the company as developers). The full release of Counter-Strike as a standalone project occurred on November 8, 2000.
In 2003, Valve released Counter-Strike 1.6, followed by CS: Source in 2004. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive was launched in 2012.
On June 17, it marked exactly one thousand days since the release of the last operation in Counter-Strike, "Riptide".