Analysis and visualisation company Skybox Technologies, Business development firm Copenhagen Capacity, and event organiser BLAST teamed up to showcase a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive prediction application at the BLAST Premier Fall Final earlier this month.
The initiative began with an ‘AI Hackathon’ which challenged participants to create a real-time tool to predict the outcome of CS:GO matches based on in-game situations. The competition was said to have drawn 373 participants from more than 20 different countries.
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The three winning algorithms were showcased during the BLAST Premier Fall Final matches, displaying an average 73% accuracy, but later found to increase in accuracy as matches progressed. Skybox Technologies intends to roll out the AI Hackathon tool to the wider Counter-Strike community next year to ‘help teams, players and coaches in training and preparation ahead of tournaments,’ according to a release.
Skybox Technologies CEO Ethan Cooper commented in a release: “We’re really happy with the engagement of the AI teams and the possibility to provide a platform to showcase the talent within the fanbase. Such skills have vast applications within and outside of esports. The opportunity of working with some of the participants further is an added bonus; and along with this, we are really excited about making the technology available to the broader CS:GO community next year.”
BLAST CEO Robbie Douek added: “At BLAST we’re always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to keep fans engaged and rewarded when watching our broadcast, the Al Hackathon has been a welcome addition and proved highly successful in bringing something new to the table and we were delighted to see the community react so positively to the integration.”
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Skybox launched its initial machine learning initiative in November 2019 with the intention of showcasing its functionality at 2020 BLAST events. The ‘CSGO.ai’ campaign offered a $5,000 cash incentive for the team with the best code and invited the five best participants to showcase their technology at a BLAST event. The competition winners came from India, the United States, and Slovakia
Esports Insider says: They say data is the gold mine of the 21st century, and whoever coined that term is very much in the right. Skybox’s technology is an impressive step in showcasing more unique data-driven opportunities for esports. For bettors, there are surely benefits here that would pique interest based on the match win percentages offered through the application.