The creator of Counter-Strike spoke candidly about his attitude toward the game

Min “Gooseman” Lee admitted that he regrets leaving the Counter-Strike development team.

The game's creator made this statement on YouTube.

"When I left in 2006, I was proud of what CS was, but I wanted to express my creative potential. I missed the freedom of being a developer, which is why I left CS. To be honest, at the time, I thought CS's popularity would quickly fade. Well, you know, I didn't think it would be a game that people would still be playing 20 years later. It's still strange to me that I still have to talk about CS.

When I left CS, I thought I didn't want to have anything to do with it anymore. When people asked me, “Isn't it cool that your game is still being played after all these years?” I would say, “Yes.” I was proud, but I had a feeling I didn't want to talk about. I regretted leaving a game that had become so popular and that I no longer had anything to do with it. I was jealous. You know, yes, I was.

In part, I pretended to be proud of CS's success. No, I was genuinely proud, but it wasn't a part of me. I don't benefit from the game's success at all. It was hard for me to be excited about Valve's success. I always tried to hide my regret that I had no connection to the game's success. I distanced myself from the CS community and pro scene, not keeping up with their development, because it was hard for me."

Acording to Min “Gooseman” Lee, when he stepped away from working on Counter-Strike, he was happy about the game's sucess, but he couldn't believe that the shooter would remain popular with audiences two decades later. Gooseman admitted that it is now difficult for him to hide his regret that he is not involved in the succes of CS2 and does not benefit from the game's popularity, which is why he decided to distance himself from the gaming comunity.

Earlier, Stanislav “Malr1ne” Potorak criticized Counter-Strike 2, calling the game boring.