Rumor: Valve will hold only one CS2 Major in 2024
Valve may change the format of conducting Majors next year - there may only be one Major of such status for CS:GO in 2024 instead of two, as it was in recent years.
This rumor was shared by Vladyslav bondik Nechyporchuk on the "Metapodcast" with commentator Konstantin Leniniw Sivko.
Only one Major is planned for next year. That means we might see something like "The International"? [Leniniw: "The International?"] Yes, there is such information, there are such rumors. I don't know how true this is yet. But, I think it's likely to be true.Vladyslav bondik Nechyporchuk
Why we shouldn't turn the Major into The International?
The scale of The International for Dota 2 directly harms the pro scene of this game from Valve. The huge prize pool, which amounts to millions and is filled with a share of Battle Pass sales, shifts the focus too much compared to other tournaments. This harms the motivation of esports players, who perform with less seriousness at tournaments outside of the DPC [Editor's note: an analogue of RMR from the world of Dota 2] and the TI itself.
On the other hand, this problem of Dota can be solved by the ESL Riyadh Masters championship, which will be held for the first time this year. It will start a few months before the beginning of The International and will compete with it in terms of prize pool – $15 million will be played for on this tournament.
If Valve and ESL do something similar in Counter-Strike 2, then one major per year may not be such a bad idea.
Another possible solution could be related to other factors. In 2013, there was only one major for CS:GO as well. Developers can test the season format in the first few months after the game's release and try to balance the T and CT sides on all maps in the map pool as much as possible. We still don't know how the changes to smoke grenades will affect balance. We can only wait for the first official matches of CS2 after the shooter's summer release.
It should be noted that the major event for the yet-to-be-released Counter-Strike 2 will take place in March 2024. Whether RMR will be retained or the qualification process for the tournament will be different will only be known in future Valve blog posts.
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