Does CS:GO need its own variant of The International?
Everyone who follows esports knows the biggest prize pools belong to Dota 2 discipline. The International main tournament takes place once a year and collects huge amounts of money thanks to the community. Only this year no record was set. Last year, the prize pool was $40 million. The biggest prize pool in Counter Strike was 2 million at PGL Stockholm Major 2021. It's a paradox because the popularity and average online in CS GO is higher than in Dota2. If you add up all the money from the tournament for the year, he will not overtake The International. Do you think it is necessary to introduce such a system with compendiums so that the Majors get more money thanks to the fans?
What is the biggest tournament in CS:GO?
Dozens of different amateur and professional CS:GO tournaments take place every day. With the development of the Internet, this has become very easy to do. In the 2000s, tournaments were held only at LAN. Now anyone can organize their tournament and find sponsors using social networks and other ways to attract. Tournaments of professional teams attract the attention of players most of all. The record holder is PGL Stockholm Major 2021 with 2.7 million views.
The same tournament also has the largest prize pool in the history of CS:GO. This amounts to 2 million dollars. Then the NaVi team got the biggest prize for first place - $1 million. The views shown by the CS:GO final cannot compete with such tournaments as FIFA World Cup or UEFA Champions League. But even 10 years ago, such figures were hard to imagine.
In addition to the Majors, many other tournaments are held throughout the year, which have huge prize funds by the standards of CS:GO and where the best teams from all over the world participate. The most famous operators are ESL and BLAST. ESL and Intel organized the Intel Grand Slam with a prize pool of $1 million. The team needs to win 4 out of 7 ESL tournaments during the year (competitive season) to receive the main prize. At the moment, only Astralis and NaVi can do this. This year, the FaZe Clan team has a chance to become the third team on this list. They only have to win the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2023 in February.
Teams below the level often play regional tournaments or online tournaments. Such events collect small views and have tiny prize pools. As a rule, new stars are born at such tournaments, which are then bought by bigger teams. They play an essential role in the development of the industry. Because they allow players to develop from any corner of our planet.
Why CS:GO needs major events
For two majors, teams and players received $70 million, which is more than for The International
An interesting fact: in Valve's dry press release about the CS:GO update in honour of the shooter's tenth birthday, the developers casually mentioned that clubs and players received $70 million per year. It is easy to guess that this is the amount received by the pro scene for stickers for the tournament. For comparison, the prize fund of the last International was $40 million. And now it's time to count.
There are two majors within 12 months: PGL Major Stockholm 2021 and PGL Major Antwerp 2022. So theoretically, each team could earn $1.5 million. Obviously, the amount is far from accurate. Many factors need to be taken into account:
- Some teams played at two Majors. Therefore, the total profit for the year is higher;
- Only the players who made it to the playoffs in Stockholm received name stickers (only 8 teams). Accordingly, the rest of the players lost their additional income (but each team had club stickers). In Antwerp, stickers were given to everyone;
- Income varied due to the popularity of certain capsules: “Legends” is more attractive for many than “Pretenders”, and players' autographs are more interesting than team stickers;
- Depending on the contracts, clubs could either give away part of the income from team stickers to players or keep them for themselves. A percentage of the sales of individual autographs most often goes entirely to the player;
- The team can play without organization: for example, the Bad News Eagles. A stack from Kosovo qualified for the Antwerp Major: the players received the income from stickers with the BNE logo. Captain Rigon rigoN Gashi received money for personal autographs and a full share of team stickers.
Summary
I think CS:GO doesn’t need its International. When creating such a large-scale tournament as TI, the audience's interest in other championships will be much lower. Now you can watch the CS:GO holiday twice a year and a huge number of other cool tournaments. In Dota 2, everyone is waiting for the International. Fans almost don't watch other tournaments. After all, there is a prize money of 100,000 dollars and only tier 2 teams show a real fight. This is something we don't want to see in CS:GO.
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