Minh Le, co-creator of Counter-Strike.
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Counter-Strike’s co-creator likes keeping out of the limelight

Back in 1999, Minh “Gooseman” Le helped create a mod for Half-Life 2 that became one of the most popular online multiplayer games of all time. But 18 years later, the co-creator of Counter-Strike doesn’t like the limelight.

Sadly for Le, he is hard to leave alone. Counter-Strike is an enormously popular first-person shooter, which millions have played. Valve released the latest version, dubbed Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, in 2012. Le didn’t work on that title. It has become extremely popular as an esport, where professional players from around the world challenge each other in team-battle tournaments that draw thousands of people. (Esports will be a big topic at our GamesBeat 2016 event on Aug. 1–3.)

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.