Valve has updated the regulations for tournament operators. From 2025, a special licence from Valve will be required to host events, and invitations can only be distributed based on the developer's ranking.
In the game's blog, it was announced: "The ideal Counter-Strike competition involves teams competing on equal terms, where success is determined solely by player skill. We believe CS should be an open and competitive discipline. Below are the new requirements for hosting large-scale tournaments.
These rules now limit direct invitations of teams to tournaments, ensure transparency in rewards, and define the types of tournaments that count towards our ranking.
If you wish to host a Counter-Strike tournament, you will need a licence from Valve. In many cases, a Limited Game Tournament Licence will suffice, but for larger tournaments, you must contact Valve to obtain a broader type of licence."
Tournaments are now classified as "ranked" and "unranked"
For unranked tournaments, any teams can be invited. As the name suggests, participants do not earn points in the Valve ranking. The maximum prize pool for such a tournament is $100,000. If an organiser holds more than one event, their total prize pool must not exceed $250,000 per year.
Ranked tournaments are now divided into two categories: tier-1 and tier-2. For top-tier tournaments, all teams from the first position in the Valve ranking must be invited, while for tier-2 tournaments, teams from the 9th position must be included. The organiser must announce the number of slots in the tournament and invite 1.5 times more teams – some through direct invitations and some via closed qualifiers.
Securing a spot in a tier-1 tournament has become much more challenging. The tournament operator must invite at least 16 teams, 8 of which will go through closed qualifiers. Additionally, an unlimited number of teams that have won tier-2 tournaments in the past six months can be invited to the closed qualifiers. The organiser may also add open qualifiers if necessary. A special licence from Valve is required for hosting a tier-1 tournament.
The requirements for tier-2 tournaments are less stringent
Teams can be invited based on the Valve ranking or through open qualifiers. If the tournament operator organises an event for 16 teams, they may invite clubs ranked 9th to 32nd. Some teams will go directly to the main stage, while others will go through closed qualifiers.
Now, there is also the possibility of inviting teams to tournaments through a Wildcard. For every 8 slots in a tournament, 2 places can be allocated for additional drawing: Wildcard for 2 teams in an 8-slot tournament, for 4 teams in a 16-slot tournament, and so on. Teams can qualify for a Wildcard if they meet at least one of the following conditions:
- Win a tier-1 tournament in the year preceding the Wildcard.
- At least 3 players from the team were in any top-8 team in the ranking in the past year.
However, Wildcard entries are also restricted. They can only be made after three completed tournaments, and slots must be proportionally distributed across regions.
Tournaments must be announced in advance
We will now learn about tier-1 tournaments much earlier:
- Tournaments for 2025 must be announced no later than 1 September 2024.
- Tournaments for 2026 must be announced no later than 1 January 2025.
- Tournaments for 2027 and beyond must be announced at least 24 months before the start.
Tier-2 tournaments must be announced no later than 3 months before they begin.
Esports players are displeased
Within hours of the update's release, two opinions emerged.
"Well, judging by what Valve has done, the tier 3-4 scene is ##### [finished]," commented nafany.
"Great update! Finally, the end of a career! Thanks, Valve," quipped DeKo.
Journalist Scoobster from Dust2us was surprised by the new rules regarding tournament announcement dates:
"What are the chances that Valve will announce the majors for 2025 before 1 September? Or the majors for 2026 before 1 January? I'd guess close to zero. But now every TO has to follow these rules. Good luck."
"I have ##### [no idea] how this will work for tier-2 and tier-3 teams. Top teams will have many opportunities, as tournament operators will fight for them. And in unranked tournaments, you can just invite teams directly and almost everything is legal because no one cares," complained analyst Pradiggg.