The Counter-Strike world is facing a major upheaval. Not only because of the upcoming release of CS2, also the Esport is facing big changes
Behind an unassuming (blogpost from Valve) is actually hiding a revolution for esports in Counter-Strike.
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Counter-Strike was on its way to franchising
In recent years, a development had begun in the professional Counter-Strike scene that was reminiscent of franchising from League of Legends as well as traditional North American sports leagues like the NFL.
Most notably, the so-called “Louvre Agreement” 2020 between the ESL and numerous teams and the rise of the BLAST Premier League to one of the major tournaments in the scene ensured that a group of privileged teams were always there. While the stars were then always competing, underdog stories became rarer as only a few tournament spots were awarded via qualifiers.
Valve abolishes partner leagues
Valve did not want to let this state of affairs continue and announced three major changes for future tournaments:
- Tournament organizers will be prohibited from entering into special contracts with participating teams that could lead to conflicts of interest.
- Tournament participants must either be invited via (the Valve Ranking) or earn a spot via an open qualifier.
- Compensations for participating teams, such as prize money or other monetary benefits, must be published and based on objective criteria made available to the community.
These regulations come into effect in 2025 and effectively abolish the ESL and BLAST partner leagues. This gives organizers and teams two more years to comply with the regulations while allowing the “Louvre Agreement” to expire without legal issues.
Reforms for a fairer and open system
Although Valve, as a developer, has traditionally given tournament organizers a lot of leeway, they decided to intervene to create a system where “only skill should limit success. “
Both ESL and BLAST have already signaled their approval of the changes and are working to adapt their tournament series to the new regulations.
The changes Valve announced to the CS ecosystem will come into play in 2025.
All competitions will be based on ranking/qualifiers from 2025 on. Implementing the vision Valve shared with us, we’ve been working on adjustments to our events (our flagships are already there).
– Ulrich Schulze (@theflyingdj) August 3, 2023
So both tournaments will maintain their significant role in the future of Counter-Strike 2 from 2025.
– BLAST Premier 💥 (@BLASTPremier) August 3, 2023
More competition and better Counter-Strike
Valve’s new rules should, at least in theory, lead to the return of many other tournament organizers to Counter-Strike, as they will no longer be excluded from team contracts with ESL and BLAST starting in 2025. The quality of the professional scene should also benefit from the increased competition.
Already at the last Paris Major, it finally became apparent that the so-called “Tier 2 teams” are anything but to be underestimated and can definitely keep up with the financially strong teams of the partner leagues.
The Counter-Strike world is not only about to take a big step towards Counter-Strike 2, but also about to experience a revolution in the Esport scene.
