Valve: Paris Major last in CS:GO, first in CS2 to take place in March 2024

The second Major of 2023 has been scrapped amidst the upcoming release of the new Counter-Strike version.

Valve has announced that the BLAST.tv Paris Major, set to take place from May 8-21, will be the last Major in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The following Major will run in the new version of the game, Counter-Strike 2, in March 2024.

The announcement comes just days following the long-anticipated announcement of Counter-Strike 2 and the start of the limited testing phase. The new game is expected to be released in the summer, a short timeframe before the now scrapped second Major of 2023 was supposed to take place, in November.

The timing of 2024's first Major in March is a distinct change from the past two years. 2022's first Major, PGL Major Antwerp, took place in May, and the same window was chosen for the upcoming BLAST.tv Paris Major.

Valve have not commented on the reasons behind this change and whether it has any connection to this year's changes to the summer tournament break, which was moved to June 12-July 9, around a month earlier than in previous years. The Counter-Strike Professional Players' Association (CSPPA) said at the time that it would engage in dialogue with Valve in regard to the official tournament breaks in order to "better align with the CS:GO Majors."

The removal of 2023's second Major has been met with a mixed response. While some praised the developers for giving the scene enough time to adapt to the new game, Complexity General Manager Graham "messioso" Pitt has taken to Twitter to share his hopes that the first 2024 Major will come with a "significant boost to revenue opportunities to make up for the Major taken away from 2023." Pitt further elaborated saying "this is a huge blow to teams who factor the revenue from attending these events into their yearly budgets."

Majors offer vast financial opportunities to teams who take part in them through the sales of stickers. Over the course of PGL Major Stockholm and PGL Major Antwerp Valve paid out over $70 million to the participating teams and players from the sales of the digital items.