As one of the creators of the original Counter-Strike, Minh Le – known best online as ‘Gooseman’ – naturally still keeps his eyes on the game he helped to foster from a Half-Life mod into the all-conquering beast that has now become what CS2 is today. Valve’s multiplayer game remains largely untouchable at the top of the Steam charts, with only rare, major launches pushing it briefly off its throne. However, in a new interview, Le reveals that he’s not often part of those numbers, although he did recently hop on to celebrate the return of Cache.
“Honestly, I don’t play that regularly,” Le says of Counter-Strike 2. Speaking to Hellcase, he reveals that he hasn’t been a CS regular since back in “around 2007 or 2008.” These days, his primary focus is on Alpha Response, a much more gloriously arcadey FPS game that draws inspiration from ’90s shooters like Virtua Cop and Time Crisis. It’s been in early access since October 2024, although Le says that the core game is now complete and it’s pretty much just a case of polishing before it’s ready for the 1.0 launch.
That doesn’t mean Le has no time for the game that made his name, however. “I did jump on recently just to play Cache, just to check it out,” he tells Hellcase. “I was still pretty good even though I haven’t played for more than a decade.” The classic arena, which was last part of the official active pool of CS2 maps back in 2019, finally made its return in a shiny new CS2 incarnation at the end of April, becoming the fourth such redesign to arrive in the sequel.
Today we are excited to release de_cache: https://t.co/d2DEX86eDD pic.twitter.com/1qlU2u27sA
– CS2 (@CounterStrike) April 28, 2026
Actively queuing up yourself isn’t the only way to enjoy modern Counter-Strike, of course. “I do regularly watch the pro scene,” Le reveals. “I’ve been watching a lot of the recent matches and keeping up with how Vitality has been dominating these days, and it’s kind of cool to watch. It’s amazing how consistent they are, really.
“That’s what amazes me most, but I have a lot of other teams that I love as well,” Le continues. “I love Furia; I really like how they represent the Brazil region, and I kind of root for them because I like to root for the underdogs. It’s a great story and it’s great that CS is so big in Brazil.”
As for what his own rank could be if he returned, Le declines to offer a guess. “When I was playing back in 2008 I was pretty good, I was probably in the top five percent, I would say. Obviously these days I’m very rusty, so I haven’t even checked my rating because I haven’t really played that regularly.”
