CS:GO transfers: How are values determined and should they be kept secret?
In September 2020, Henry "HenryG" Greer joined Cloud9 and vowed to create a "Colossus". While the main goal was to create a title-contending lineup for the North American giant, Greer also set about revolutionizing how financial figures are viewed for transfers in Counter-Strike esports. Transfer fees and financial figures in general have remained a confidential aspect of a player's transition between teams. On Cloud9, HenryG attempted to instill some transparency by announcing the transfer fee and other figures relating to the players he signed.
When compared with Counter-Strike where transfers can occur throughout the year, European football transfers occur within the two designated transfer windows during the summer and throughout January. For the most part, transfer fees for players are public knowledge with the fee and the amount of "add-ons" also referenced, with the public also having a good understanding of the player's salary.
With the global scale of football, the website transfermarkt.com has grown in popularity since its May 2000 launch. The logic of transfermark.com's valuation system is quite basic; with the principle of "the wisdom of the crowd", it allows the site’s users to discuss market values on forums and put forward arguments as to why the player should be valued as such.
Despite the exponential growth of Counter-Strike and esports in general, we are a million miles away from the level of football as a sport. As such, right now the public has no clear understanding of player transfer values and there definitely is not a database such as transfermarkt.com, making it near impossible for the public to gauge a player's value when they move.
Rumors have swirled about how much some high-profile transfers have cost. Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov's estimated $600k acquisition by G2 is often referenced in Twitch chat when the player does something of note. Other times, we hear of the scale of a transfer without getting a rough figure. The move of Josef "faveN" Baumann to BIG was heralded to be of "unprecedented size in German CS", despite no figure being announced and with practically no public knowledge on other German transfer fees.
Before delving into the question of how Counter-Strike transfer values are determined and whether the figures should be kept secret, it is important to look at where the decision itself to sign a player comes from and the parties involved in this process.
When it comes to signing a player, the decision ultimately relies on different positions of management depending on the organization. When asked about who makes the decision in the North American team Complexity, the general manager Graham "messioso" Pitt stated that it comes from multiple facets. The deal itself is done with the approval of the CEO, but the General Manager and the coaching staff both have a huge amount of say. For Complexity, the General Manager is the one that will ultimately bring the player and the deal together and then get a sign-off on a CO level to finalize the deal.
European organization OG has a slightly different way of doing things. When asked about the handling of transfers in OG, Team Manager Vladyslava "Vladyslava_Z" Zakhliebina explained that the Head of Esports makes the decisions on these matters, but at the same time, there would still be discussions together as management of the team. It was also mentioned that the in-game leader would have a say too, an opinion that perhaps not every team would take into account before signing a new player.
The other major party that is involved in the process of transferring a player to an organization is the player's agent, should they employ one. The growth of agencies and player agents has shot up exponentially in recent years. While some agents may have differing functions for a player, the main one has been acting as legal representation in contract negotiations.
The involvement of the agent in the transfer process begins initially after the buying team makes contact with the selling team's representatives inquiring about the availability of the player. After the buying team receives clearance that they can trial the player, they will then contact the player's agent who will liaise with their client. Outside of the initial talks with the player themself, the majority of the correspondence during the negotiation is done through the player's agent.
There are multiple tangible factors that are important points to note when determining a player's value. Raw skill, age, and experience immediately spring to mind as the most important for the majority of players. While everyone would love to have a player that is the whole package, it's very unlikely that most teams can find that player at a reasonable price tag.
The general understanding that I got from my discussions with those involved in player scouting is that it is very role dependent. "It's about understanding the player you're replacing and the role you're trying to replace by establishing what are the key components that make up that player and then looking at other aspects that are going to be helpful and complement what we need," messioso told Dust2.us.
Stats are always a topical factor to consider when signing a player. HLTV provides a solid basis for a statistical outlook on a player at face value, however, when compared to some traditional sports for example, there is a lot of room for innovation when it comes to statistics in the future. "You will always check the stats, but it won't help you have a full picture of this player" Vladyslava_Z added on the importance of stats in player recruitment.
Recalling an anecdote from her time as HellRaisers manager, now heralded as the greatest to touch the game, she recalled a young Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyljev being dismissive of a strat when he went and found a kill on his own accord. Despite buffing his stats with this kill, it led to his team losing the round as a result of him being in the wrong position of the team.
Beyond those mechanical elements, nationality is still deemed to be a vitally important factor when it comes to player values for multiple reasons. The rise of international lineups has been exponential in recent years, with FaZe setting the bar immensely high in 2022 with their sustained dominance. However, for General Managers such as messioso, there is plenty of difficulties that he must endure while running a North American lineup. "There's almost a premium price on North American players right now because the subset of players potentially capable of competing internationally is so small," was the verdict of Complexity's GM, who has been managing a full NA lineup since the beginning of 2022.
With those premium prices being set on NA players, that resulted in Complexity picking up Norweigan player Håkon "hallzerk" Fjærli when searching for an AWPer. From looking at NA AWPers the decision was made that none of these players would elevate the team immediately, resulting in Complexity looking at other regions like South America and Europe. A plethora of options such as free agents and buyouts in these healthier regions allowed them as the buying team to be the ones to set the pricing and determine a more accurate value for the player's worth.
Intangible elements that also play a part in the valuation of a player are temperament, communication and where a person is in their life outside of the server. Temperament and communication both go hand in hand when it comes to putting value on a player. Not showing up on the scoreboard or in the stats pages, a player's attitude and how well they communicate with their teammates are factors that those in the position to sign players must go and find information about on their own accord.
Counter-Strike is a game played with five players, and if one of the five players is failing to communicate, then that's a 20% drop off for the team in general. The same goes for attitude; it's a small group, so if conflicts persistently arise as a result of one player, then you are far less likely to value them highly, regardless of the stats they put up. Trying to make a deal with someone who has a child and having them try to relocate can cause an increase in the cost compared to someone who isn't attached to family obligations.
As for the details within the contract of the player, the contract length is obviously important. Despite the importance of the contract length in determining a fee, the rise of set buyouts is something that has become a lot more prevalent in recent years and plays a vitally important role in player valuations. A buyout clause is a figure placed in the contract of the player, and it provides a set figure that another team must meet if they wish to purchase a player, regardless of the length of the contract. While every contract may not have a buyout, it is up to the parties involved to take the risk of inserting one.
The risk comes from the fact that if you value the buyout too high, the player might become impossible to shift if they are placed on the bench. Place the buyout too low, then you will struggle to replace the player with another of a similar value. With the people in charge of making moves for players of other teams, there is also an understanding and conversation amongst them on these matters according to messioso.
Buyouts have caused issues for top teams in scenes such as Brazil and the CIS region historically. Renowned Brazilian journalist Roque Marques of Dust2 Brasil recalled that extortionate buyouts were a troubling matter for SK gaming in the past. SK fielded the legendary Brazilain lineup helmed by Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo was the only top Brazilian team for an extensive period of time. As a result of being the only competitive team at the top level, smaller teams would put massive buyouts on their superstars in order to force SK's hand. Despite not having a single team holding the competitive monopoly anymore, Roque pointed to Sharks as an example of a selling team with incredibly high buyouts, with paiN meeting one of those buyouts for zevy in August 2022.
Overall, with a better understanding of who is in charge of making the decisions on signing players and the different factors that can contribute to the player's valuation, there is a major question that must be asked. With all these different factors that contribute to a player's valuation behind the scenes, is Counter-Strike ready to embrace clarity across the board on transfer figures and give a tangible figure to justify all these different elements that lead to a valuation?
The general consensus seems to be yes, but providing certain conditions are achieved. One of those conditions which are deemed to be vitally important to make figures such as transfer fees and salaries publicly available is good faith between the different parties. As cliché as it may be, the definition of a negotiation is "discussion aimed at reaching an agreement" and as messioso put it, "the best way to come to an agreement is when both sides have all the facts available to you."
Not only would publicly available transfer figures benefit the public with a better understanding of the scene in general and organizations in negotiations, but it would also benefit the players themselves. Agents have the clearest understanding when it comes to the valuation of a player right now. Having access to the contracts of all the players they represent and dealing with their transfers, the agencies can understand everything about the value of the player. For those players that may not be represented by an agent, transparency on the financial side overall would give all players a clearer picture of their own worth.
HenryG may have failed in his main endeavor of creating a title-contending lineup for Cloud9, but he may have given us the launching pad for an even more monumental achievement in Counter-Strike in the long term. The esport of CS:GO has continued to progress and grow, and if teams are truly acting in good faith and wish for a higher standard to be set in our scene, then it shouldn't be long before we see HenryG's experiment of publicly available figures for the transfer of players, and perhaps even salaries become widespread in Counter-Strike.
