Valve, the game developer behind the popular first-person shooter game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), has announced the cancellation of the second Major of 2023. The tournament, which was scheduled for November 2023, has been scrapped to give way to the upcoming release of Counter-Strike 2.
The BLAST.tv Paris Major, which will run from May 8 to May 21, 2023, will be the last Major in the current version of the game. The next Major will be held in March 2024, after the release of Counter-Strike 2. The new game is set to be launched in the summer, which is just a few months before the now-cancelled Major was supposed to take place.
This decision has been met with mixed reactions from the CS:GO community. While some believe that it’s a good move to give players and teams more time to adjust to the new game, others expressed concern about the financial impact of losing a Major. Graham “messioso” Pitt, the General Manager of Complexity, took to Twitter to express his hopes that the first Major of 2024 will come with a “significant boost to revenue opportunities to make up for the Major taken away from 2023.” Pitt also noted that the cancelled Major is a “huge blow” to teams who rely on the revenue generated from attending these events.
The first Major of 2024 will take place in March, which is a departure from the past two years when the first Major was held in May. The PGL Major Antwerp, which was the first Major of 2022, also took place in May. The upcoming BLAST.tv Paris Major, which is scheduled for May 8-21, 2023, falls within the same window.
Valve has not provided any reasons for the change in schedule and whether it’s connected to the recent changes in the summer tournament break. The break has been moved to June 12-July 9, a month earlier than the previous years. The Counter-Strike Professional Players’ Association (CSPPA) has expressed its intention to work with Valve to “better align with the CS:GO Majors.”
Participating in Majors provides teams with significant financial opportunities through the sales of stickers. In the previous two Majors, the PGL Major Stockholm and PGL Major Antwerp, Valve paid out over $70 million to the participating teams and players from the sales of digital items.
In conclusion, Valve’s decision to cancel the second Major of 2023 in CS:GO has raised concerns in the community. While some are supportive of the move to give players and teams more time to adjust to the new game, others worry about the financial impact of losing a Major. The next Major will take place in March 2024, after the release of Counter-Strike 2. The upcoming BLAST.tv Paris Major, which is scheduled for May 8-21, 2023, will be the last Major in the current version of the game.
