After a long LAN abstinence due to Corona, CS:GO is back! The ESL published new plans that could ignite new fire in the scene.
The worldwide corona pandemic and the associated contact restrictions have taken their toll on esports over the last few years.
Especially in the case of the esports veteran Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, viewer numbers for various online tournaments have dropped significantly.
The competition, however, is doing better. The Riot Games shooter VALORANT is attracting more and more viewers, most recently with a record of over 800,000 simultaneous viewers, and is gradually building up a sustainable Esport community.
Now, however, the ESL has reacted to various Corona security relaxations and announced big plans for the ESL Pro Tour Season 2022.
The #ESLProTour calendar is set for 2022 and more exciting than ever before! 🤩
🏆 25+ competitions
👑 2 EPT Championships + 5 EPT Masters events
🎫 Tickets for Cologne and Katowice live soon
📈 A new and clear path to the topRead all about it here ⤵️https://t.co/x0gMhqP8CQ pic.twitter.com/ZGTDLvjKhK
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) September 15, 2021
According to its own information, more than 25 tournaments with a prize pool of over 5 million US dollars are to be organised for the coming season. In addition, to the excitement of all CS:GO fans, the tournament organiser reported that they will be enforcing a consistent return of LAN events including spectators.
These changes could well give the community more incentive to get excited about the games again and bring Counter-Strike: Global Offensive back to the forefront of Esports.
The ESL Pro Tour 2022 at a glance
The staggering of the 25+ tournaments
- 2x EPT Championships – IEM Katowice & IEM Cologne
- 5x EPT Masters tournaments (incl. ESL Pro League)
- 4x ESL Challenger tournaments
- 4x ESL Challenger League seasons
- 10+ ESL National Championships
* EPT = ESL Pro Tour
Further changes
- Tickets for the events IEM Katowice (15-27 February) and IEM Cologne (5-17 July) should be available for purchase soon. Further ticket sales for other events will follow.
- DreamHack will be renamed ESL Challenger and ESEA Premier will be renamed ESL Challenger League in the future.
- All EPT Masters and EPT Championship events will take place LAN.
