Valve has announced major changes to pro CS:GO tournaments to provide a 'level playing field'

Jul 31, 2023

No more Sneaky Beaky

In a surprising move, Valve has announced a series of changes to the rules governing tournament organizers.

CS:GO is one of the most iconic shooters available to play; it easily makes our list of best FPS games. However, despite its popularity, publishers Valve have taken a hands-off approach, until now.

"Counter-Strike is at its best when teams compete on a level playing field and when ability is the only limit to their success", Valve said in a blog post. "Over the past few years, we’ve seen professional Counter-Strike drift away from that ideal. The ecosystem has become gradually less open, with access to the highest levels of competition increasingly gated by business relationships."

The usually quiet publisher has released numerous changes for the Pro CS:GO circuit in a bit to make it more of an "open sport". These include tournament organizers no longer being able to have "unique business relationships or other conflict of interest with teams that participate in their events", as well as prize pools being made public and invitations to tournaments being determined through Valve's new ranking system or open qualifiers.

Due to existing and long-term agreements, all of these requirements are set to take effect in 2025. While Valve acknowledges that there will be some hiccups along the way, they are "committed to the long-term health of Counter-Strike as a sport" and will do whatever it takes to ensure its "bright and open future".

These changes come at the same time as news of Counter-Stike 2 Premier Competitive mode getting an overhaul of features come Season 2. A reliable Counter-Strike data miner Aquarius tweeted images of potential new leaderboards. If these images are to be believed, then, it means that CS2 will have leaderboards that would reset every competitive season, as well as a global version that could be sorted by region.

If you enjoyed playing CS:GO and are eagerly awaiting the sequel, then check out these best PC shooters that are often overlooked.

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Elie is a Features Writer for TechRadar Gaming, here to write about anything new or slightly weird. Before writing for TRG, Elie studied for a Masters at Cardiff University JOMEC in International Journalism and Documentaries – spending their free time filming short docs or editing the gaming section for their student publications.

Elie’s first step into gaming was through Pokémon but they've taken the natural next step in the horror genre. Any and every game that would keep you up at night is on their list to play - despite the fact that one of Elie’s biggest fears is being chased.

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