Game developer Valve has pushed through a small update which should solve the problems related to footstep sounds at the FaceiT London Major. The update which was released during the one day gap between the New Legends stage and New Challengers stage. This update will solve the footsteps issue which has been a big problem for players. Players were unable to hear footsteps and would often look lost on the maps.

CS: GO Update Notes

Added a server setting “mp_footsteps_serverside” which is enabled by default and switches footsteps near the player from using a mix of client-simulated and server-authoritative to purely server-authoritative.

Source: Counter strike Blog

The FaceIT Major

The FaceIT Major Challengers stage is over with eight teams already out of the tournament. The remaining eight teams have progressed to the New Legends Stage as they will face off against the Legends from the previous Major. This is the first CS: GO Major for FaceIT and it was filled with delays and technical difficulties.

One of the most common problems for the teams at the FaceIT Major was the various sound problems. Players would be unable to hear the footsteps of opponents. In counter Strike regardless of your rank and skill, sound plays a very important cue in a match. Getting the extra information on nade usage, footsteps, as well as the bomb’s position in map, can reveal a lot of information. Teams can win or lose rounds based on rotations from these sound cues. A single second of extra time when you hear an incoming grenade switch often means the difference between a win or a loss.

So Valve solving this problem is a big deal, especially for the players at the FaceIT London Major. The players have been complaining about this issue since the start of the Challengers stage. The sound issues usually took a very long time for FaceIT to resolve. It led to several technical delays and created a sub-optimal viewing experience for the viewers.

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But it was not all FaceIT’s fault

The sound issues caused by the inability to hear footsteps was mainly Valve’s fault. They released a client for the Major just a few hours before the start of the Major. Obviously, it was a release without any tests and checks. This led to the entire Challengers stage is full of problems for the players.

Over time there were several complaints about the same issue on social media. MSL was very vocal about his disappointment with the FaceIT London Major.

Honestly the worst major I have attended. Bad fps whole tournament, bad headset first two rounds, cant hear footsteps of teammates and opponents, using 20 minutes in a deciding game to qualify on testing footsteps when u rely so much on sound and not sure Its working. 1/2 — Mathias Lauridsen (@MSLcsgo) September 9, 2018

The tweet had a different effect on fans who were quick to point out the timing of the tweet was suspicious. After all, the tweet came right after their loss to Vega Squadron.

Its not the reason we went out, everyone played on the same conditions. I just think Its so dissapointing that this happens at a major. Hope they fix it for the later stage, it was horrible conditions. And I hope ESL get all majors, so we cant keep getting dissapointed 2/2 — Mathias Lauridsen (@MSLcsgo) September 9, 2018

For a tournament which had a peak viewership of 499k excluding Chinese viewers, this was a big disaster. With FaceIT’s brand deeply ingrained into the CS:GO Major, the fans lay the blame with the tournament organiser.

First stage of the @FACEIT Major peaked at 499k viewers (Not including Chinese streams) according to @EsportsCharts Pretty cool, considering there are 13 days left and some huge teams yet to play a match. Overtime Major 👊! pic.twitter.com/h1si47P3l5 — Milos Nedeljkovic (@Faceit_Mikey) September 10, 2018

The Footstep issue, however, was not the only problem for players. There were FPS issues as well as inferior headsets available to the players. The lack of quality peripherals definitely did not go down well with several teams.

The FaceIT Legends stage

With the Challengers stage already come to an end, we will move on to the Legends stage. The eight Legend teams from last year are waiting for the teams that qualify from the Challengers stage. The rules for the Legends stage are very similar to that of the Challengers stage. The first teams to win 3 match wins automatically qualify for the Champions stage, while the ones with three losses are eliminated from the tournament.



The Day 1 matchup are already out and we have some really exciting matches in the form of Faze vs BIG, Na’Vi vs Astralis and Mousesports vs NIP. You can check our Pick-em predictions for the New Legends stage Day 1 matches here.