Valve sent an email to tournament organizers reminding them to comply with the "Tournament Requirements," which became mandatory in 2025. This information comes from HLTV, who accessed the email. Meanwhile, the organizers of several major tournaments still do not meet the requirements, which could lead to penalties.

This situation is intriguing because the competitions that are missing the deadlines include popular global events, such as IEM Spring and ESL Pro League. This not only calls into question rule compliance but also poses a threat to the disruption of international tournaments.

What is known about the rules?

Valve's new tournament requirements include several key aspects. The main focus is on the timelines for announcing competition details. For Tier 1 tournaments, the venue must be announced at least one year before the start, whereas for Tier 2, this period is two months. Changes to competition information also require special permission from Valve.

Meanwhile, for the tournaments planned for 2027, these deadlines are even stricter: the event announcement must be made two years before the start. The company emphasizes that exceptions are not provided, and any deviation from the rules will be considered individually.

Tournaments not meeting the requirements

Among the competitions currently lacking a clearly defined venue:

2025

• IEM Spring (April 21–27)
• BLAST Rivals S1 (April 28 – May 4)
• StarLadder StarSeries Season 19 (May 26 – June 1, expected to be canceled)
• ESL Pro League Season 22 (September 27 – October 12)
• Thunderpick World Championship Finals (October 15–19)
• BLAST Rivals S2 (November 10–16)

2026

• BLAST Bounty S1 (January 12–25)

Additionally, several tournaments have only partial information: the host country is named, but not the specific city. Among them are Skyesports Souvenir (February 2025), Skyesports Championship (September 2025), and CS Asia Championships (October 2025).

Valve's letter: stern reminders

Valve emphasized in its message that deadline violations regarding the announcement of competition details are unacceptable. The letter stated that the company "will be forced to consider imposing sanctions" if the issues are not resolved promptly. Valve also offered tournament organizers consultations on competition format and advised them to revisit the updated tournament requirements page.

The current situation could impact the entire CS2 ecosystem, as any changes or sanctions against major organizers like ESL or BLAST could alter the tournament calendar and the availability of licensed competitions for teams.