A closer look
The multi-million-dollar eSports juggernaut was originally coded in a dorm room by two college kids named Minh Le and Jess Cliffe. They used Valve's Half-Life engine to build a tactical shooter mod in 1999, releasing it for free on the internet. It quickly became more popular than Half-Life itself. Recognizing a golden goose when they saw one, Valve swiftly bought the intellectual property and hired the kids, cementing their total dominance of PC gaming.






