StarLadder announces plans to return to CS

The tournament organizer shared details regarding four planned events in 2025 and 2026.

StarLadder make their return to CS nearly five years after having hosted the Berlin Major (Photo: StarLadder)

Ukrainian tournament organizer StarLadder have announced their intention to return to the Counter-Strike scene, sharing plans to host their first tournament in the circuit since StarSeries i-League Season 8 in October 2019.

StarLadder's decision to return to Counter-Strike was in part motivated by an announcement from Valve in the latter portion of 2023, where the North American company stated that it would be placing limitations on the currently existing closed circuit, with those changes set to come about in 2025. StarLadder highlighted this in their announcement, stating that the "new CS2 licensing rules" were a contributing factor in their decision to return.

Read more
Valve to end team and tournament organizer partnerships starting in 2025

StarLadder announced plans for four events, with two events slated for 2025 and two for 2026, each featuring 16 teams and "qualifications held around the globe." The planned dates for these events are:

Tournament #1: May 26-June 1, 2025
Tournament #2: September 12-21, 2025
Tournament #3: May 25-31, 2026
Tournament #4: September 11-20, 2026

StarLadder are not the first tournament organizer to reveal similar plans to return to the Counter-Strike circuit. Shortly after the conclusion of PGL Major Copenhagen, PGL announced plans to host 11 tier-one events across 2025 and 2026. With ESL and BLAST also sharing their 2025 schedule at the beginning of March, the first year with Valve's new rules is slated to be filled to the brim with top events. 23 events are now planned for 2025, including the two Valve-sponsored Majors.

With StarLadder's announcement, the event schedule for 2025 is planned to be:

January 13-26 - BLAST tournament
January 29-February 9 - ESL tournament
February 10-24 - PGL tournament
February 25-March 16 - ESL tournament
March 17-30 - BLAST tournament
March 31-April 14 - PGL tournament
April 21-27 - ESL tournament
April 28-May 4 - BLAST tournament
May 3-19 - PGL tournament
May 19-25 - ESL tournament
May 26-June 1 - StarLadder tournament
June 9-22 - First Major
July 23-August 3 - ESL tournament
August 4-17 - BLAST tournament
August 20-24 - ESL tournament
August 25-September 7 - BLAST tournament
September 12-21 - StarLadder tournament
September 23-October 12 - ESL tournament
September 29-October 13 - PGL tournament
October 18-November 3 - PGL tournament
November 3-9 - ESL tournament
November 10-16 - BLAST tournament
December 1-14 - Second Major

FINALLY!
2024-04-01 19:37
0
14 replies
2025 is stacked!
2024-04-01 19:40
0
5 replies
yea a welcome change! 2025 will be the year of the grind
2024-04-01 21:22
0
4 replies
too much cs wtf
2024-04-01 21:26
0
3 replies
the grind will be rewarded and the frauds won't go through the qualifiers anyway
2024-04-01 21:27
0
The amount of off days total to close to three momths if you play every tournament. And some events even overlap. Thats insane if you consider that it is including weekends. Most teams will skip out on tournament i would imagine.
2024-04-02 00:02
0
1 reply
#168
 | 
Poland Pechowy
I'm like 90% sure this schedule include some tier 2/3 events like ESL Challenger and Blast Showdown. Then there will be perhaps 12-15 tier 1 tournaments. In 2016 there was 14 if I checked correctly, so it wouldn't be new
2024-04-02 00:57
0
Interesting looks like Valve nuking silly partnerships will cause more event being played just like before Covid. PGL and now Starladder. Very nice to see. Would be also cool to see some S-tier Dreamhack events we didn’t have those for pretty long time, yes I know Dreamhack is owned by ESL, but it would still be cool Dreamhack back in tier 1.
2024-04-01 21:47
1
7 replies
IEM fall/spring is literally DH Masters
2024-04-01 22:04
0
6 replies
I said I know it’s ESL now, but I would still like Dreamhack event tbh. I always liked their vibe more than any ESL event outside of Katowice and Cologne. Getting rid of tier 1 Dreamhack events and moving EPLs to studio and 30 people crowd was very bad decision by ESL.
2024-04-01 22:07
1
5 replies
ok but it's literally the same thing
2024-04-01 22:08
0
3 replies
No it's not. It's owned by the same company and run by the same people, but if you weren't a newfag you'd know the vibe of dreamhack events was something else
2024-04-01 23:29
0
2 replies
what makes you think I wasn't around for DH events kek
2024-04-01 23:39
0
1 reply
Hey, but „the vibe“ xD
2024-04-02 02:30
0
#149
 | 
Latvia Ryzmii
+1
2024-04-01 23:17
0
POG
2024-04-01 19:37
0
3 replies
#155
 | 
Germany Sol1taire
gonna be so much travel and stress for the players
2024-04-01 23:44
0
2 replies
#160
 | 
Netherlands xrnavkha
no, this probably means we will see teams skip events to prioritise their schedules (somewhere down the line probably also sponsor requirements, not from the TO but on an individual level with teams), and we will see concurrencies of different groups in diff events
2024-04-02 00:32
0
We demand they suffer for our enjoyment. The gamer must endure
2024-04-05 12:07
0
#3
 | 
Korea jin67300
w0w i miss it
2024-04-01 19:37
0
the scene is healing
2024-04-01 19:37
0
4 replies
+1 end of silly partnerships biggest Valve W in recent years
2024-04-01 21:49
0
1 reply
+1
2024-04-01 22:03
0
Feels good man
2024-04-02 00:40
0
+1
2024-04-02 03:52
0
uh oh
2024-04-01 19:38
0
yesss
2024-04-01 19:38
0
#7
 | 
United States zovint
NICE MENS
2024-04-01 19:38
0
#8
 | 
Netherlands geek3D
anotha one
2024-04-01 19:38
0
#9
Faceit plus user Faceit level 10  | 
 | 
Sweden vetten
6 man lineups bout to make a comeback
2024-04-01 19:38
0
1 reply
cloud 9 +monesy
2024-04-02 02:31
0
April fools?
2024-04-01 19:39
0
#11
 | 
Ukraine delsix
ELEAGUE announcement tomorrow?
2024-04-01 19:39
0
16 replies
#60
Faceit level 10  | 
 | 
United States |Scy|
We could only be so lucky.
2024-04-01 20:04
0
#92
 | 
Poland kola5410
oh god please, those tourneys were amazing
2024-04-01 20:57
0
2024-04-01 21:04
0
2 replies
banger
2024-04-01 23:28
0
1 reply
you already knew gla1ve mastermind brain was cooking something
2024-04-02 02:32
0
#112
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
bladee | 
Latvia Namesnipe
ELEAGUE is like, fully dead, isn’t it?
2024-04-01 21:31
0
1 reply
Not unless David Zaslav uses his Coyote v Acme tax writeoff money to bring it back
2024-04-01 22:00
0
No please I am not interested to see 12yo spamming DUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDU
2024-04-01 21:48
0
7 replies
#118
 | 
Ukraine delsix
i honestly never understood why people reference to that melody as "dudududududududu". it doesn't sound even remotely as "dududududududu", why not reference to any melody as "dududududududududu" then
2024-04-01 21:49
0
5 replies
Answer is in my comment mate. “12yo”
2024-04-01 21:50
0
4 replies
#121
 | 
Ukraine delsix
fair enough
2024-04-01 21:50
0
3 replies
But jokes aside I would not mind ELEAGUE to return. More tournament organizers = more events = more matches for us to watch.
2024-04-01 21:52
0
2 replies
#123
 | 
Ukraine delsix
and i think it'd improve overall quality of TOs too
2024-04-01 21:53
0
Not to mention that Eleague could have a perfect niche. A niche of a big NA tournament operator. That scene needs those badly. Now if only there were some asian operator, maybe PW will do the same type of announcment as PGL during their major? Would love to also see SEA though, not just mostly China.
2024-04-01 22:06
0
#178
Faceit level 10  | 
Other GriNcs
dudududududududududu
2024-04-02 02:56
0
dudududududududu
2024-04-01 22:51
0
Thats cool, 2025 will be exciting for CS!
2024-04-01 19:39
0
#13
F1KU | 
Spain Adella
Just don’t let them host a major
2024-04-01 19:39
0
Eleague next please
2024-04-01 19:39
0
2 replies
+1
2024-04-01 19:54
0
+1
2024-04-02 10:00
0
good to see the TOs are coming back to the scene
2024-04-01 19:39
0
that's nonstop cs for viewers pretty much
2024-04-01 19:40
0
4 replies
#64
 | 
United States scratchboy
love to see it
2024-04-01 20:08
0
Quantity =/= quality tho
2024-04-01 21:30
0
2 replies
Would not call repetitive Blast and ESL events quality tbh, they are ok, but having variety is not bad thing. Pre pandemic scene was much better, than this partnership clown fiesta.
2024-04-01 22:09
0
1 reply
I am not commenting on the quality of the TOs... Packed schedule means T1 teams (top5-10) won't attend every single one of them due to not enough time for practice, recuperation, travel times and so on. If not properly carried out by the organizers it might actually cause that you'll rarely see the top5 playing in on tournament (I am reaching here a little, but it's possible)
2024-04-01 22:20
0
Great to get more Orgs back!
2024-04-01 19:40
0
1 reply
or the debut of new orgs)
2024-04-01 19:46
0
#18
 | 
Germany Jonaah
wow
2024-04-01 19:40
0
#20
 | 
Poland Julka
Yesssssss!
2024-04-01 19:40
0
#21
Faceit level 10  | 
 | 
Russia nvtsu1
WOW, FINALLY, I LOVE THIS TOURNAMENT, NEXT ELEAGUE OR DREAMHACK PLSSSSS
2024-04-01 19:41
0
6 replies
#33
Faceit level 10 Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
 | 
Spain Silber_
Dreamhack owned by ESL sadly
2024-04-01 19:46
0
1 reply
#40
Faceit level 10  | 
 | 
Russia nvtsu1
sad...
2024-04-01 19:51
0
dreamhack = esl
2024-04-01 19:47
0
#37
 | 
Moldova salkoay
dreamhack masters = iem spring/fall dreamhack open = esl challengers
2024-04-01 19:49
0
#98
 | 
United States MrNorwood
DreamHack festivals still exist and many still have CS events, but as #37 said they are rebranded as ESL events now.
2024-04-01 21:06
0
DH events still exists, they're just owned by ESL now
2024-04-01 22:03
0
RMR needs to be added to this calendar and then its basically imploding
2024-04-01 19:41
0
8 replies
#100
 | 
United States MrNorwood
Yeah, there is likely going to have to be a lot of qualifiers on the calendar as well to support all of this, I'm sure we will hear some complaints.
2024-04-01 21:08
0
3 replies
Well, you don't have to play everything. And we still don't know regions of those tournaments, they can't all be international tier-1 when there's only 1-2 day breaks between some of them.
2024-04-01 22:09
0
2 replies
#197
 | 
United States MrNorwood
Yes, certainly you don't, but that doesn't stop the complaining.
2024-04-02 14:50
0
1 reply
2016 pretty much had the same numbers comparing it to 2025, a part of these tournaments are ELS 100k prize pool and blast showdown btw, so i don't think there will be that much complaining
2024-04-04 22:31
0
there will be no RMR
2024-04-02 07:03
0
3 replies
#198
 | 
United States MrNorwood
What makes you think that Valve are going to do away with the RMR?
2024-04-02 14:50
0
2 replies
invites being based on valve rankings, and no scheduling of the RMR in the calendar, otherwise it would be completely retarded for an org to try to compete with the RMR, it just wouldn't happen
2024-04-03 02:53
0
1 reply
#212
 | 
United States MrNorwood
Makes sense, and it seems you aren't the only one saying this: dust2.us/news/46967/rmr-tournaments-coul.. I'm concerned what this might mean for regions that don't have regular access to events, but I guess I'll have to wait and see.
2024-04-03 22:33
0
We are so fucking back The Soul of CS is slowly returning
2024-04-01 19:41
0
#25
 | 
Russia HikZ
Starladder kekw
2024-04-01 19:41
0
Great news!
2024-04-01 19:42
0
#27
 | 
Armenia VirtusNo
can we only get chinese and eastern european organizers in esports? why do i have to put up with 20 more events of PGL audio guy and Starladder equipment guy and Faceit breakfast buffet?
2024-04-01 19:44
0
7 replies
nt jnups
2024-04-01 19:51
0
Starladder major is still the best production/stage I've seen in CS
2024-04-01 20:37
1
starladder is goated
2024-04-04 22:32
1
4 replies
#218
 | 
Armenia VirtusNo
NOPE! Try again
2024-04-05 00:07
0
3 replies
aight bet, starladder is goated
2024-04-05 01:50
0
2 replies
#222
 | 
Armenia VirtusNo
guess ur right then
2024-04-05 13:26
0
#223
 | 
Armenia VirtusNo
i just realized Thorin will be at the starladder major so it willl actually be the worst major since Berlin.
2024-04-05 14:57
0
#28
 | 
United States Apocasy
2025 is gonna be a movie for events
2024-04-01 19:45
0
Lets go, 2025 going to be a great year for CS! Finally some more TOs!
2024-04-01 19:45
0
What the hell is going recently. First pgl, now starladder. Cs2 has a future.
2024-04-01 19:45
0
1 reply
#192
 | 
Finland Palomies
End of ESL franchise league propaganda, beginning of something beautiful
2024-04-02 11:43
0
How is that gonna work with players schedules lmao there’s no way teams won’t just skip these
2024-04-01 19:46
0
15 replies
no more partner teams = less obligation to play only esl and blast events
2024-04-01 19:48
0
13 replies
But tournament’s prestige and prize pool are still a thing
2024-04-01 19:48
0
12 replies
#53
cyx | 
Germany lookymd
yes but now you have a choice. you can even skip events. the CS scene was boring as hell as you saw the same 10 teams playing each other over and over again. Now you will have more different teams in different tournaments and i personaly think that this is a good thing
2024-04-01 20:00
0
6 replies
"more diversity, that's good" brother. nobody cares about small teams, that's the truth
2024-04-01 23:23
0
5 replies
Hard disagree. T2 and even T3 has a decent following, all things considered. Those tournaments are also great to be familiar with potential upcoming talent
2024-04-02 00:49
0
2 replies
the numbers speak for themselves. every time there isn't a popular team playing = the numbers are very low
2024-04-02 01:17
0
1 reply
same thing apply of other sports aswell in their respective best leagues, teams could now rise to popularity and start to grow fanbase, something that wasn't possible before
2024-04-04 22:34
0
Thanks to this the small teams can become big teams
2024-04-02 00:59
0
I think someome forgot about new rmr valve system
2024-04-02 02:35
0
#88
donk | 
Argentina Aleeee
there's no prestige in blast torunaments, only global finals, and its an 8 team event
2024-04-01 20:48
0
1 reply
Well there *was* just because of the level of teams participating in it. Ofc without partners they will fall off but even besides blast it’s hard to imagine that any top15 team would choose pgl or starladder over events like Katowice or cologne
2024-04-01 20:59
0
You clearly didn’t watch pre-pandemic CS. It was this way we had much more tournaments a year and it was better. Sure it will be impossible for one team to play everything, but it wasn’t problem back in day since we still had dominant teams like Nip, Fnatic, Astralis
2024-04-01 21:59
0
2 replies
i dont recall ever having nonstop cs with barely 1-2 days between tournaments for MONTHS i mean look at this shit, its literally one tournament the next day after another since january to april, a week break then another nonstop cs all the way to june. and this schedule doesnt even include countless qualifiers to listed tournaments nor the RMRs
2024-04-01 22:59
0
1 reply
Bro its the booked timespan. Doesnt mean that every day cs is played holy fuck.
2024-04-02 02:36
0
#193
 | 
Finland Palomies
Yes they will skip, just like before ESL hijacked the calendar. Now teams don't have to pay a fine for skipping an event. And the major will truly be a world championship, instead of being on par with Kato/Cologne as an event.
2024-04-02 11:45
0
#38
 | 
Russia superopik
Nice!
2024-04-01 19:50
0
wowzies
2024-04-01 19:51
0
#42
 | 
Yugoslavia yike$
Theres just no way that these tournaments can all be good content, so many teams will just skip events because you cant just go from tournament to tournament without one day of break
2024-04-01 19:53
0
2 replies
More opportunities for t2 teams I guess
2024-04-01 19:54
0
1 reply
#47
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Yugoslavia yike$
I guess so
2024-04-01 19:55
0
#44
Faceit level 10  | 
ropz | 
Argentina rawe1337
Nice news
2024-04-01 19:54
0
#46
Faceit plus user Faceit level 9  | 
Czech Republic maXX_CZ
This is not sustainable. If all these tournaments are ment as T1. No org will keep up with this schedule, not even slightly. Org will be nit picking events, "last call" updates, replacements, etc. This can very well become one big mess. Also i am not interested in 2 (or even 3) big events per month. Last but not least. MAJORS should really change lot of things up to stay "special" compared to other events. It is clear for a while that structure, prize money, lot of things should be changed.
2024-04-01 19:55
0
15 replies
Teams will never improve if there aren't an excessive amount of high tier LAN tournaments. And when one org skips, another will gladly take their place. Teams will now be back on the grind, no more lousy complacency because of the garbage psuedo-franchising from ESL and BLAST.
2024-04-01 20:03
0
Completely agree. There is no sport in the world where the pro can't have a week to relax afaik Even F1 it's every 2 weeks but they have 3 months between seasons, here it's almost everyday and 1 month of player break... They can't even practice so how could they have a personal life with this schedule? And then people will talk about mental health in esport... (Also agree with majors, if the matchups are the one you saw 25497 times during the year, you need something special, like all Bo3, final Bo5)
2024-04-01 20:05
0
13 replies
Teams can still choose to skip tournaments if they want a long break. No one's stopping them. Teams now have freedom of choice instead of being obliged to attend tournaments due to psuedo-franchising. If they choose to try to attend as many tournaments as possible in an excessive amount of time, that's their problem for being shit at managing.
2024-04-01 20:08
0
8 replies
From this point of view i agree. But people will complain about flukes when best teams will pass, sponsors of tournaments will be disappointed and ask for refunds if big name don't come etc.. Generally speaking, investors in teams will push for doing the most tournaments possible and players will have to fight to say no Of course, it's in the best interest of the teams to have happy and in form players But the presence of those tournaments means that investors will keep pushing Not sure aiming too high is a good idea from an economical standpoint T1 is like 15 teams, they won't fill all those tournaments And sponsors wants the T1 audience volumes + who will watch G2 vs CoL for the 20th time in 4 months?
2024-04-01 20:15
0
6 replies
It would be no different than it is then. "Investors" will have to deal with it. And this is also no different than the pre-COVID days. We're just going back to that era. In addition, when one org skips, another will be around instead. And based on what I've seen while lurking, I've seen some big org names now considering entering CS in the distant future essentially because of Valve permanently banning franchising and forcing everything to go back to open circuit in 2025, some of them being LOUD and Karmine Corp. They can easily fill in the gaps for absent teams.
2024-04-01 20:26
0
5 replies
+1
2024-04-01 20:32
0
If you are right and that more team are coming to T1, then yeah you are right But right now with T1 being like 15 teams, i can easily see tournaments like just before Cologne/Katowice or Major where there's only 3 or 4 T1 teams... Then it's limited audience and sponsors aren't happy and the whole ecosystem is hit
2024-04-01 21:22
0
2 replies
Like I essentially said, sponsors will have to suck it up regardless. And frankly, no one in this community generally wants to see the same teams clash over and over. Besides, we have to be more discreet regarding investors etc considering we nearly went to ruin because of over-reliance on VC money. Do we really want to potentially go back to that disaster era? And proper Tier 1 is only like a definitive 8-10 teams. Not 15. Plus, teams will never improve if we don't have more excessive events. There could be a new team that happens to gather a large audience due to their name and will do so but not that much due to them being shit. But what if they eventually become good and eventually even become a title contender team? That would ideally maximize the "ROI" as it would bring us a new audience which on paper would be excited to see the org they're a fan of be a title contender in a certain game which can have a domino effect in which would glue them to CS if they have any further interest. Let's try to use Karmine Corp for example. Say they enter CS and start off as shit but their fans will still watch them regardless. What if they eventually become good? Then ideally more eyes would be turned to CS as they would see that their team is actually good and not a humiliation, which ideally would bring us some sort of "ROI".
2024-04-01 21:35
0
1 reply
I kinda agree with you with one exception: the sponsors don’t really have to “suck it up”, they can just quit if they don’t like the landscape. Like the teams don’t really have an upper hand with them in anything apart from a contract. If the landscape really is oversaturated the sponsors will just back off Not saying it will happen, but it’s a possibility
2024-04-02 01:04
0
#195
 | 
Finland Palomies
I firmly believe that the "only franchise leagues are sustainable" take was just ESL propaganda, spread by them to gobble up market share from their competitors. Open circuits with relegations and promotions --> better competition --> better storylines, viewership, opportunities...
2024-04-02 11:50
0
#73
 | 
Kazakhstan Avantc7
+1
2024-04-01 20:20
0
#70
Faceit level 10  | 
Sweden Jockeknocke
a t1 team isnt expected to go to all of these events though, it will be like it was before covid, lots of high tier lands where teams will pick and choose which to go to. So for example the teams which didn't make it to cologne will go to a smaller but still T1-2 tournament.
2024-04-01 20:15
0
Since you mentioned F1, do you have any idea how much prep goes into high level motorsport? It's not just get in the car and drive every few weeks, there is gym sessions like 4-5 days a week, simulator sessions, debrief and review data from the previous event, get acclimatised if they are doing a high altitude event. And probably more that I'm not remembering off the top of my head. Then you have to fit media and sponsor obligations in there as well.
2024-04-02 04:58
0
1 reply
Yup i know that's why i mentioned this, it's a crazy schedule so they have a big pause between seasons (twice bigger than in CS), and they have 2 weeks between "officials" because there is need for all of this training Thinking CS is just logging into the server and playing is far from reality, there's a lot of prep, both mentally, teamplay, strats, demos, antistrats etc... But yeah i know how crazy the king of motorsports (after the 24h ofc) is!
2024-04-04 13:09
0
Football, literally. Regular season August-May, NT tournaments in June and July and right after you have the pre-season.
2024-04-02 07:10
0
#48
Faceit premium user Faceit level 9  | 
 | 
United States Kobeyachi
We are so fucking back
2024-04-01 19:57
0
Epicenter when?
2024-04-01 19:58
0
3 replies
#105
 | 
Russia i0n1x
bb dacha is the new epicenter now
2024-04-01 21:18
0
2 replies
Production quality is not anywhere near.
2024-04-02 13:34
0
1 reply
#205
 | 
Russia i0n1x
epicenter had tons of problems as well.
2024-04-02 21:56
0
#51
Faceit level 2  | 
Uruguay BroluK
*everyone liked that*
2024-04-01 19:59
0
#52
Faceit plus user Faceit level 10  | 
 | 
Moldova OptimusBlyad
HOLYSHIT, ELEAGUE NEXT PLEASE OMAGAD OMAGAD
2024-04-01 19:59
0
#54
 | 
Canada _penguins
Can’t wait for the next season of cevo
2024-04-01 20:00
0
1 reply
#142
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
 | 
World Suj_Mjotu
+1
2024-04-01 22:42
0
#55
sdy | 
Ukraine nd3fnd
nice
2024-04-01 20:01
0
Good news. They should host a major again soon
2024-04-01 20:03
0
2025 will be the best year for CS since j started watching pro cs in 2021. The oppression of ESL and BLAST are over, they wont be as powerful as they once were. I cant wait to see these tournaments play out, and see more TOs join in, especially for 2026 and onwards
2024-04-01 20:03
0
#59
 | 
Luxembourg 2000
Hell yeah
2024-04-01 20:03
0
#62
Faceit level 10  | 
 | 
Brazil bandindin
STARLADDER >>>> ABISM >>> PGL
2024-04-01 20:07
0
#65
 | 
Poland NaKii
NO FUCKING WAY. THE SAVIOURSSS
2024-04-01 20:10
0
Common Volvo W
2024-04-01 20:11
0
#67
 | 
Tunisia Sk1zo10
I think It's the Best time to see more org enter cs like Loud, sentinels, GenG etc
2024-04-01 20:15
0
1 reply
GenG's already back. Just hosting a young Chinese roster but no one knows what they're even doing right now. LOUD is also considering entering later this year. Sentinels meanwhile will likely never enter CS unless NA CS revives :v
2024-04-01 20:28
0
#69
Faceit level 7  | 
takanashi | 
Russia Qualidea
Eleague, your turn
2024-04-01 20:15
0
god damn 2025 is stacked af
2024-04-01 20:17
0
#74
Faceit level 7  | 
 | 
Germany Youju
Epic! Hell Yeah!
2024-04-01 20:21
0
#75
 | 
Russia Donkimuz
More TO’s coming back because Valve is putting an end to monopoly sponsored team invites tournaments W Valve
2024-04-01 20:28
0
shit looks promising for cs since cs2 came out
2024-04-01 20:34
0
pog
2024-04-01 20:45
0
#84
 | 
England BobDude65
Fuck yeah pro cs is returning to its prime. Starladder, PGL, ESL, Blast, AND no partnerships. 2025 is gonna fucking slap.
2024-04-01 20:46
0
#86
 | 
Yugoslavia lapace
hell fucking yes. ELEAGUE PLEASE COMEBACK
2024-04-01 20:46
0
#87
 | 
Russia KopHuLLloH
now this is good news. unlike pgl making the similar announcement
2024-04-01 20:46
0
Starladder Major pls 🙏
2024-04-01 20:49
0
So hyped for 2025, gonna be a great year. Hopefully there are more open qualifiers and less invites, since clearly the t2-t3 scene is very strong and deserves more chances to make it to big LANs.
2024-04-01 20:52
0
#91
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
 | 
Europe diviksen
starladder <3
2024-04-01 20:53
0
who's next? eleague? cevo? MLG? ESWC? Copenhagen Games?
2024-04-01 20:59
0
1 reply
I'd love to see Eleague back
2024-04-01 21:13
0
#95
 | 
Russia RenTao
that's big W
2024-04-01 21:02
0
pog
2024-04-01 21:03
0
#99
 | 
Europe KOSON
big W.
2024-04-01 21:06
0
Volvo actually doing smth good. Now get a fucking anti cheat so i can stop playing valo
2024-04-01 21:10
0
Legends
2024-04-01 21:11
0
So fucking back
2024-04-01 21:36
0
They aare back
2024-04-01 21:37
0
#124
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
Johnny R. | 
Spain shooterr
ESWC, Dreamhack, WCG, ELEAGUE, CPL, Clanbase
2024-04-01 21:54
0
1 reply
#199
 | 
United States MrNorwood
DreamHack never left, the tournaments are just branded as ESL events now: liquipedia.net/counterstrike/ESL/Challen..
2024-04-02 14:54
0
#129
 | 
Slovakia Psycho2k
Nice,hope this elevates Cs2
2024-04-01 22:03
0
2025 is gonna be fucking amazing
2024-04-01 22:18
0
idk how teams are going to choose but there’s legit only 1 day between each events- so definitely won’t be attending all of them.
2024-04-01 22:19
0
7 replies
That's the point. No TO is expecting to have all the same teams each time. Instead, it allows flexibility so new teams (specially with huge branding) get to improve against others, while top teams choose based off prestige and occasional easy win. There's far more meshing of T1 and T2, and it is almost always very clear-cut what team is what tier based off that (T1 teams will generally have deep runs, specially with tournaments that mostly have T2 teams, for instance. That's what BiG, mouz, and others, used to do pre-franchising). It also doesn't punish teams for not qualifying to a certain event if they can attend another (see how few tournaments liquid has had this year, as an example).
2024-04-02 00:57
0
6 replies
will this not make a very difficult environment for TO’s to be profitable and sustainable as they are already losing money when BLAST and ESL a duopoly? Not having top teams will hurt bottom line heavily?
2024-04-02 08:48
0
5 replies
#200
 | 
United States MrNorwood
The bottom line is most impacted by sponsorships and viewer numbers. As long as big sponsors are willing to support the event and people are tuning in to watch, it doesn't really matter if the highest ranked teams are attending or not.
2024-04-02 15:02
0
2 replies
yh but viewership is dependent on teams playing, and sponsors dependent on viewership...
2024-04-03 06:17
0
1 reply
#210
 | 
United States MrNorwood
Yeah, but the popularity (and therefore viewership) of a team doesn't follow a curve based on how good they are. Brazilian teams pull in some of the highest viewer counts in the game and they don't currently have a top 10 team. An event can be successful without having the very best teams, as long as they have exciting, interesting, and popular teams to watch.
2024-04-03 14:54
0
Esports in general is not very sustainable, whether there is franchising or not. Take this as more of an opinion than anything, but the scene has to change in a lot more ways to really make it sustainable long term: - Pros salaries are huge, and it easily stacks up for orgs (see why they are massively dependent on sticker money, for instance), - There's no paid platform to directly support streams (this by itself has a lot of nuance and thought to be placed, but a small fee could massively help. Twitch and even YT could theoretically help, but how much would they really accomplish?), - Esports fans in general don't support orgs enough, let alone TOs, and we don't really know how much impact sponsors in events have on whether fans will buy onto their products (we tend to see a lot of sponsors come and go, specially when they are not gaming-focused, directly) - While I personally like a diversity in TOs, I would argue Valve should still limit how many are there under their watch en route to majors. Make it so there are more than just BLAST and ESL so cs2 doesn't belong to very few, linked groups, otherwise we might continue to see shifts in power (which is partly why we have historically seen a lot of match fixing in T2, as well as gambling sponsors) Ofc it is not that straightforward, sadly CS2 suffers from having huge influence from gambling, skin trading, etc. And you could argue all of these are part of the reason the circuit is even able to run to begin with. If we continued franchising, it would HAVE to be Valve themselves, maybe handing off different events to different TOs transparently in a bigger "franchise" circuit, specifying a good and long enough pool of orgs (which can be controversial).
2024-04-02 15:50
0
1 reply
was a very interesting read, and i completely agree. I think due to the free watch model and overinflated salaries, gambling is clearly what keeps teams and TO's alive.
2024-04-03 06:20
0
#139
 | 
Europe Zwenix
nice lets go
2024-04-01 22:22
0
#140
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
 | 
World 2ocean
starladder majors wtf???????????? or nah????????
2024-04-01 22:25
0
#141
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
Ukraine Rinalin
No one mentioned WePlay, but this guys were on the verge of greatness , they were this close
2024-04-01 22:24
0
1 reply
#201
 | 
United States MrNorwood
Their academy league was good, it would be nice to see something like that return.
2024-04-02 15:03
0
#145
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
Destroyer | 
Other Marauder_
nice. CS reviving once again. God how boring it would be with lame ass ESL and Blast snooze fests
2024-04-01 23:09
0
we're so back
2024-04-01 23:11
0
#147
 | 
Sweden pawn73
loved their hud
2024-04-01 23:14
0
ELEAGUE PLS
2024-04-01 23:16
0
Ok
2024-04-01 23:36
0
Are they gonna ban teams with russian players?
2024-04-01 23:53
1
1 reply
Ig it's up to starladder sponsors
2024-04-02 00:20
0
Banning partners was such a good move
2024-04-01 23:55
0
#161
 | 
China RADNIKEY
Finally CS returning to normal
2024-04-02 00:34
0
I know teams can choose events now but this is getting a bit out of hand, I hope it steadies out in 2027 etc. Dont want it to impact viewership cause people get burnt out of events become over saturated, or end up with zero crowds cause they are all spread thin with 1000 events also would be really cool with more regional events, would really love to watch an na tournament again but with actually a lot of na teams and not just 1 hero invite, or an asian tournament like extremesland etc.
2024-04-02 00:37
0
Interesting stuff ; feeling excited ★
2024-04-02 00:47
0
GOOD FORMAT GOOD CROWD GOOD OBSERVERS GOOD PRODUCTION KEEP THE LEGACY ALIVE
2024-04-02 00:48
0
2025 so crowded but lfg good production
2024-04-02 01:45
0
AH YES.
2024-04-02 06:56
0
announce plans to return to cs circus, fix to the correct headline.
2024-04-02 07:32
0
#185
 | 
Finland F1irSti
wow, nice.
2024-04-02 07:51
0
#186
 | 
Australia Beard43
Nice, StarLadder were a solid TO for sure.
2024-04-02 08:14
0
now bring back cs_summit Acer Predator Masters ESG Tour FACEIT League
2024-04-02 08:45
0
2025 nice
2024-04-02 09:33
0
Ukrainian organization? I bet they are not gonna invite Russians just bcz they’re Russians So basically it’s -3 top10 teams I hope they take it seriously without such a bs if they wanna host big events
2024-04-02 11:19
0
#194
 | 
Russia 1_vs_9
>May 26-June 1 - StarLadder tournament >June 9-22 - First Major Their event is 1 week prior the major. yikes Hardly any Tier 1 team will be there
2024-04-02 11:50
0
1 reply
That's how it was back in 2015. Nothing new really
2024-04-02 22:49
0
About time
2024-04-02 18:21
0
#204
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
North America ILikePeeps
Didn't even realize it was gone...?
2024-04-02 21:30
0
keep on it,and then knock the PGL out plz
2024-04-03 16:04
0
classics
2024-04-04 08:03
0
bye pgl
2024-04-05 01:46
0
Interesting stuff ★
2024-04-08 06:11
0
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