Berlin International Gaming (BIG) is an esports organisation that was registered in Germany on 2 January 2017. The company is currently headquartered in Berlin, and its main division is its Counter-Strike team. Over the years, the organisation has picked up multiple awards from esports media outlets. Berlin International Gaming have also been regulars at major tournaments, and at some of them the team even finished in the prize places.
BIG achievements
Since 2017, Berlin International Gaming (BIG) have been active on the Counter-Strike scene. At many events, the team has put together solid runs and finished in the prize places. Some of the squad's biggest results are shown in the table below.
Tournament
City and dates
Placement
Prize money
DreamHack Open Denver 2017
Denver, 20-22 October 2017
2
$20000
ESL One Cologne 2018
Cologne, 3-8 July 2018
2
$50000
DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: Europe
Online, 19 May-14 June 2020
1
$54000
Funspark ULTI 2020
Online, 16-26 April 2021
1
$150000
IEM Dallas 2022
Dallas, 30 May-5 June 2022
3
$20000
Pinnacle Cup Championship
Lund, 8-11 June 2022
3
$35000
Roobet Cup 2022
Online, 22-30 June 2022
1
$150000
CCT Season 1 Online Finals #4
Online, 12-19 November 2023
3
$25000
CCT Season 1 Online Finals #5
Online, 30 November-7 December 2023
1
$100000
ESL Challenger Atlanta 2024
Atlanta, 4-6 October 2024
2
$20000
MESA Nomadic Masters Spring 2025
Ulaanbaatar, 30 April-4 May 2025
2
$60000
CCT Season 3 European Series #12
Online, 2-14 December 2025
1
$22000
NODWIN Clutch Series #5
Online, 20 February-5 March 2026
1
$22000
How much they earned per year
BIG's Counter-Strike earnings have changed at different times. Stats for the last 3 years are shown below in table form.
Year
Prize money
2023
$352750
2024
$194676
2025
$221866
2026
$71803
BIG roster history
A lot of players who are well known in the Counter-Strike esports scene have played for Berlin International Gaming. The standout eras are the original lineup and the players who represented the team from 2019 to 2022.
Achievements of the first lineup
The founders and first players of the team were Fatih "gob b" Dayik, Nikola "LEGIJA" Ninic and Johannes "tabseN" Wodarz. They were later joined by Johannes "nex" Maget and Kevin "keev" Bartholomaeus, who came over from mousesports (MOUZ) and ALTERNATE aTTaX. With that lineup, the team took silver at DreamHack Open Leipzig 2017 and also won iGame Winter Invitational, ESL Meisterschaft: Spring 2017 and Europe Minor Championship - Krakow 2017, earning their first prize money.
The 2019-2022 lineup
From 2019 to 2022, players such as XANTARES (Ismailcan Dörtkardeş), syrsoN (Florian Rische), k1to (Nils Gruhne), gade (Nicklas Gade), tabseN (Johannes Wodarz) and others played for BIG. Step by step, they kept winning and made the Berlin International Gaming (BIG) name even bigger. During that stretch, the team won gold at DreamHack Open Leipzig 2020, #HomeSweetHome: Week 1 and #HomeSweetHome: Week 2, DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: Europe, DreamHack Open Summer 2020: Europe, Funspark ULTI 2020 and Roobet Cup 2022. BIG also received the "Best National Team" award twice from the German CS:GO portal 99damage.
BIG is a professional esports organisation based in Germany.
The current BIG roster is Johannes Wodarz "tabseN" (rifler), John de Castro "JDC" (rifler), Benjamin Bremer "blameF" (team captain), Gleb Gazin "gr1ks" (AWPer), Jozef Baumann "faveN" (rifler). Since 17 March 2025, the acting coach has been Sebastian Hoch, better known as "xenn".
Well-known former BIG players:
Player (full name)
Nickname
Date joined
Date left
Mateusz Wilczewski
mantuu
21 June 2023
12 February 2024
Elias Stein
s1n
21 June 2023
12 February 2024
Marcel Köhn
hyped
10 January 2025
10 October 2025
Florian Rische
syrsoN
12 February 2024
30 December 2024
BIG's biggest achievements are 1st place at CCT Season 1 Online Finals #5 and 1st place at Roobet Cup 2022.
Germany
Belarus
Denmark
