Weclome, Reason Gaming!

We are pleased to announce our new partnership with the iconic Reason Gaming CS org! Reason Gaming was founded in 2003 and they have several esport teams for various games. Reason recently went back into Counter-Strike and are now focusing on establishing themselves for CS2. GamerPay and Reason entered a partnership due to the mutual love and appreciation for Counter-Strike.

Reason’s comeback to Counter-Strike is quite an epic one, having participated in a lot of CSS events and the first two CSGO Majors, the DreamHack Winter 2013 & the ESL Major Series One Katowice 2014. The latter one being the most iconic tournament in regards to stickers! Its the first Major ever to have personalized Team Stickers, capsules and some, if not, the best holo effects on stickers in CSGO.

We sat down to have a talk with Adam Heath the Co-Owner & Managing Director of Reason Gaming. We talked about various topics, the return to Counter-Strike, the development of Reason Gaming, and of course skins and stickers.

But before we head into the conversation with Adam, check below video highlighting the smooth partnership negotiations between Reason and GamerPay…

Why was Reason Gaming Founded?

Reason Gaming was founded as one of the first professional esports organisations in the UK.
We had a lot of keen players in the early 2000s and they were getting to a point where they had
their sights set beyond the domestic UK scene and wanted to start branching out into European competitions.

Here is the old Reason Gaming roster with smF, LOMME, karrigan, EXR and Friis.

What happened since Reason quit CSGO?

We have always tried to stay in the CS scene with various rosters, from UK lineups to the Danish lineup we had the Gfinity Elite Series, but after Elite Series ended the roster broke apart, and we shifted our focus to Street Fighter and Super Smash Brothers.

The intention was to return to CS so long as we could find the right team.
Between 2018 and 2021, we came very close to signing a few rosters, with one deal falling through days before the announcement.

How does it feel being back in CSGO?

It’s great! The response to the announcement was better than I could have imagined.
Knowing how passionate the Counter-Strike scene could be, I expected a lot of negative comments because we weren’t signing an obvious Tier 1 team or even a European team.
Had HLTV covered the announcement I expect more negative comments would have appeared, but most were happy to see us return, and America was very supportive of our decision to join their scene!

What was your favourite part of your journey?

Making the 2014 Katowice Major was an amazing achievement and something, I couldn’t have dreamed of achieving so early in Counter-Strike. But outside that, the event that sticks with me the most is the ESWC 2012 female Counter-Strike tournament, where we had to qualify at the event after missing out on the online qualifier. We ended up winning the qualifier and then coming 3rd in the main event after a very close semi-final match against Team ALTERNATE Female.

Source: left to right ESL Major Series One Katowice 2014, ESWC 2012 female - Liquipedia

What is your favourite Reason craft?

Over the years I have been sent some incredible-looking crafts from fans and collectors and the ones that stand out to me the most are ones that look like they could be a complete Reason branded skin where the gun’s colours match our own branding!

For example the M4A1-S | Printstream or AWP | Redline. Anything that stays on brand.

What are your expectations with the new CS team?

I think this roster has a lot to offer. They are newly formed so still have a lot of work to do, but they have a lot of very encouraging early results and have shown excellent individual skills.
With a bit more work I don’t see why this roster can’t be pushing the top of the American scene soon.

Are you still in touch with old Reason players?

I still see a lot of our old UK players at events. As for the Danish guys, not so much.
Out of everyone, the player I probably have spoken to the most is Haste. We got on really well working together. Same with MSL, we kept in touch a bit after parting ways but then sadly life gets in the way and you lose touch.

Do you play CS yourself?

I regret to say I have never really been a fan of CSGO. I started playing Counter-Strike during Condition Zero and then progressed to Source when that came out, and that game took over my life. There were many many days of skipping college and playing Source for anywhere up to 18 hours a day.

Then when GO came out, it felt too different. I couldn't make the transition and as life had moved on I didn’t have the time I used to have free to commit to the grind. I’ve still played a bit, but only very casually in gathers or pre-made 5 stacks. I haven’t even hit 1,000 hours in the game whereas I had 10x that time in Source before Steam even started tracking time played!

What are your Top 3 favourite CSGO skins of all time?

What is next for Reason?

It’s grind time now - we finally have a Counter-Strike team again!
Our social reach and interactions are at an all-time high, so it’s time to get to work, fill up on sponsors, and push this team to be the best they can be. I have a number of plans standing by ready to be activated depending on what the next 3 to 6 months bring and I look forward to them all as we grow Reason and reach new heights.

How does it feel with Reason going through CSS, CSGO and now CS2?

It’s really good to see the game get a new lease of life. As much as people get used to the current version and may not like certain aspects of the new version, change is good and is needed in esports.

You can’t keep playing the same version of the game for 20+ years because things will get stale.
It feels really good to have such a strong history behind us too, having some of the best players from CSS, and CSGO wear our tag at one stage or another, and now to start a new chapter with Counter-Strike 2.

Conclusion

A huge thanks to Adam for taking the time out of his day to answer our questions! We are excited to partner with Reason and together give back to the community we love.

Reason gaming is rich in history and legacy in CSS and Global Offensive. We are excited for what the future brings with Counter-Strike 2 now having finally launched.

A special thanks to:
Bossi, who helped with the research for this article, and Mathias, who crafted the amazing pictures and the thumbnail.