ESL VP on why ESL is not hosting a CS:GO major in 2017

It appears competition to host Counter-Strike: Global Offensive majors has gotten fierce in 2017.

Speaking in a Reddit AMA, ESL vice president Ulrich Schulze cited “more parties” wanting to host a CS:GO major as the reason why ESL is not hosting a major of its own.

“You think something happened between us and Valve, but what happened is more parties entered the market and want to host Majors these days. Until MLG hosted the Major, all Majors were either Dreamhack or ESL simply because no one else really was able or willing to host CS:GO events at that scale back then,” Schulze said.

“Instead of Katowice, the Major went to a new market in 2016, and instead of doing Cologne for the fourth time, PGL gets one for the first time. This isn’t an expression of our relationship to Valve but rather how much competition there is now, and how good that competition has become.”

CS:GO’s first major of the year, ELeague Major, broke viewership records back in January. The next CS:GO major is PGL’s Major 2017, which will be held in Krakow, Poland in July.

Earlier this month, ESL did announce IEM Sydney 2017 in May, which will feature a $200,000 prize pool. ESL One: Cologne 2017 is also set to take place in July, which Schulze addressed in the AMA.

“We would have liked to host a Major again, definitely – at the same time we are grateful that Cologne was one three years in a row. We are still very confident that it will have the best teams attending and a full arena. Cologne has a lot of legacy, which also contributed to the fact that the Major is now going elsewhere but means the event is very established. We are making it easy for teams to come to Cologne and also keep practicing for the Major,” Schulze said.

There has been speculation that ESL’s decision to not host a CS:GO major in 2017 is the cause for its recent rule change on players affected by the VAC ban. ESL will allow previously banned players to compete as long as it has been two years since their ban.

In related CS:GO news, ECS Season 3 European division teams have been finalized and StarSeries S3 Finals groups and seeding have been announced.

For more news and information, be sure to check out the CS:GO hub.

Michael Martin wants to see hostage maps in competition. Follow him on Twitter @Bizarro_Mike.