Community reacts to Valve announcement
In recent years the increase in the use of partner leagues has become a controversial topic in the Counter-Strike scene, with ESL's Louvre Agreement and BLAST's Partner teams allowing certain organizations to hold spots in the prestigious leagues regardless of their team's performance. To counter this, Valve have announced a ban on business partnerships between teams and organizers starting in 2025, with all invites to Major competitions to be taken from Valve's official ranking.
The majority of the community reaction to the news was positive, with one of the large benefits being that organizations will now have to all fight for a spot in the big tournaments.
A number of former players have come out in support of the changes, from Swedish legend Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund to former NA CS stalwart Jordan "n0thing Gilbert.
It is not just popular among former players either, as current members of the scene also took to twitter to voice their opinions.
Meanwhile Endpoint CEO Peter Thompson acknowledged that whilst it is great for Tier 2/3 Counter-Strike, the use of Valve's ranking system for all invites could make HLTV's rankings redundant.
Whilst everyone seemingly unanimously agrees that open circuits are a key part of Counter-Strike and important to keep, some have voiced their concerns about the financial viability of the move.
Former Davenport University Coach Colin "koi" Thor voiced his worries about whether NA will get a fair shot at qualifying for the big events.
For such a big shift in the ecosystem it is understandable that the community is cautious, especially with the Valve rankings being far from ideal at the moment and the financial volatility of esports. However, Valve and co. have until 2025 to figure out a sustainable plan for the future of Counter-Strike and fix their rankings for an open CS2 circuit that benefits all.
