lead – Gaming Master

100 Thieves announces messioso and sgares to lead Counter-Strike 2 comeback

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 11:19:26 +0000

Image Credit: 100 Thieves via YouTube

100 Thieves has announced a new Head of Counter-Strike Operations and Head of FPS ahead of its return to Counter-Strike esports.

Graham ‘messioso’ Pitt and Sean ‘sgares’ Gares have joined 100 Thieves to help the organisation as it heads into Counter-Strike 2. 100 Thieves Roobet was announced two days ago as part of a multi-year partnership that sees 100 Thieves expanding into Europe’s esports scene.

Keep Reading

NAVI unveils new junior CS2 roster
BLAST Premier Rivals Hong Kong partners with Refrag
100 Thieves signs former TSM players Timotino and vora

100 Thieves Building Counter-Strike 2 Powerhouse Team

100 Theives announced sgares as Head of FPS and messioso as Head of CS Operations on X earlier today, noting these are some of the ‘pieces’ of putting together its 100 Thieves Roobet Counter-Strike 2 team.

The pieces are ready to fall. #100T

Introducing @seangares as the 100 Thieves Head of FPS & @messioso as the Head of CS Operations for 100 Thieves Roobet Counter-Strike. pic.twitter.com/Y4xQb3QxrC

— 100 Thieves Roobet Counter-Strike (@100T_CS) November 12, 2025

sgares and messioso are the first hires ahead of 100 Thieves Roobet’s arrival. 100 Thieves shared an in-depth interview with the duo on YouTube. Fans are excited to see messioso return to Counter-Strike 2 after he left Complexity when the organisation shut down its Counter-Strike 2 division. sgares was previously a competitive Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player and then became part of Shopify Rebellion’s VALORANT team.

“When you guys reached out, I was so stoked,” sgares said. “I was having a lot of fun in the game, so when you guys reached out, I was so stoked. When you asked for a call to talk about the opportunity, I was so excited I just showed up at the office.”

Once sgares was added to the organisation, they quickly decided to also add messioso since he had a lot of insight into the CS2 scene itself.

The two Counter-Strike veterans discussed plans for the 100 Thieves Roobet team, including the idea of pairing passionate veteran players with younger players they can guide and inspire.

“Hopefully we’ll have some news about the roster [soon],” said messioso. “Sean and I have been working really hard on who these coaches and IGLs are that we want to work with. Hopefully, the next announcement should be something on that.”

The post 100 Thieves announces messioso and sgares to lead Counter-Strike 2 comeback appeared first on Esports Insider.

Source link

Former Dragon Age lead says product placements could help combat “overreliance on microtransactions” and I agree because every game should make you pick a watch colour

admin — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 04:07:29 +0000

Video games should investigate dabbling in product placement as heavily as some movies do, just in case it can help provide an alternative to live-service monetisation via microtransactions, former Dragon Age director has suggested. Yes! Yes, I say, because every single game should follow 007 First Light’s lead and force you to choose between seven different colour variants of the same branded timepiece.

I’m serious, this is what the industry needs. The time is now. Everyone must pick a watch!

“Is there an opportunity for games to take a step back and think about different ways that we could make money? I think there is,” Darrah said in a YouTube video discussing the topic. “Product placement is a very small part of video games right now compared to movies and television. Maybe it could be a larger part of development. Maybe there are relationships there to be formed.

“Maybe we need to change the way that games go into subscription services. Maybe it’s not forever. Maybe they go in for a while and then they leave the same way that movies leave Netflix. I think that the overreliance on microtransactions is overemphasising certain genres and preventing other genres from flourishing.”

As much as I reflexively reel at the example Darrah provides of a film which covered a huge amount of its costs via product placements and/or brand partnerships, The Smurfs 2, he’s making a salient point. If it’ll help make single player games like 007 more economically viable and isn’t too jarring, dipping more into branding might not be the worst thing in the world. Provided it fits and isn’t just being used to boost already gaudy profit margins and executive paychecks. Sadly, I fear that last bit is exactly what it’d be used for.

Wait a minute, what am I saying? I’m supposed to be arguing in favour of branded watches for everyone here. A swanky wrist ticker for Morrigan. A space age time-telling gadget for Commander Shepard. Go all out. Give the protagonist of Far Cry Primal a crude little stone sundial strapped to their arm with animal skins.

All of them available in a variety of stylish hues designed to suggest you’re a marginally different sort of person. None of them offering any tangible gameplay advantages. It’s the only way to save the video games from live-service oblivion. Speaking of which, get over here Hero of Kvatch, I’ve got a Rolex here to go with your Imperial dragon armour.

Source link