With competitive Counter-Strike set to enter a new era with the impending launch of CS2, Valve is making massive changes to the esports ecosystem that will shift the scene to a completely open format that effectively spells the end of the “permanent partner” team model in the biggest leagues.
In a post titled “A Level Playing Field,” Valve claimed today that professional Counter-Strike has drifted away from an open playing field, “with access to the highest levels of competition increasingly gated by business relationships.” This statement directly references two of the biggest leagues in the game, ESL Pro League and BLAST Premier, which have their own partnered teams and their own rankings.
Related: Snappi accuses BLAST of ‘manipulating world rankings’ with its CS:GO circuit format
Valve confirmed three new requirements for running large-scale tournaments, which will take effect in 2025:
- “Tournament organizers will no longer have unique business relationships or other conflicts of interest with teams that participate in their events.”
- “Invitations to all tournaments will use [the Valve] ranking system, or otherwise be determined by open qualifiers.”
- “Any compensation for participating teams—prize pool or otherwise—will be made public and will be driven by objective criteria that can be inspected by the community.”
The first two requirements are certainly the most impactful as teams that have previously received direct invites to tournaments hosted by ESL and BLAST as permanent partners will no longer do so as of 2025.
Related: CS:GO fans plead with Valve to move toward a more competitive tournament circuit in Counter-Strike 2
Tournament invites beginning in 2025 will be directly determined by Valve’s own ranking system, which currently features regional rankings for the Americas, Europe, and Asia regions.
