ESL reveals transition plans to CS2

Valve unleashed the long-awaited Counter-Strike 2 last week, and the final big tournament in CS:GO, ESL Pro League Season 18, finished up over the weekend. With the release of CS2, one of the biggest Counter-Strike tournament organizers, ESL, has shared their plans for the transition.

ESL CS2 transition plans

ESL is adjusting their ongoing and upcoming tournaments/events to allow players and teams to fully focus on CS2 instead of splitting their focus between CS:GO and CS2. To this end, the tournament organizer, as per a press release sent to us, has shared details on the upcoming tournaments and how they are transitioning to Counter-Strike 2.

• ESL Challenger Jönköping Qualifiers: with the first match taking place on Tuesday, October 3, the qualifiers for the upcoming ESL Challenger competition in Sweden will transition to CS2 with immediate effect;
• ESL Impact League Season 4: with the first next match taking place on Wednesday, October 4, the fourth season of the all-women league will transition to CS2 with immediate effect;
• ESL Challenger League Season 46: with the first next match taking place on Thursday, October 5, the online league for aspiring, semi-professional, and professional teams will transition to CS2 with immediate effect;
  • Stay tuned as the new dates and times of the rescheduled matches for North America will be announced
• ESL Meisterschaft 2023 Season 2: with the Division 1 and 2 matches resuming on October 12 and 15 respectively, the German National Championship will transition to CS2 with immediate effect;
• ESL ANZ Champs 2023 Season 2: with the ANZ Main and Champs matches resuming on October 2 and 9 respectively, the Australian & New Zealand National Championship will transition to CS2 with immediate effect;
• Intel® Extreme Masters Sydney 2023: commencing on October 16, our upcoming IEM event down under will transition to CS2 with immediate effect;
• All ESL Counter-Strike competitions scheduled after IEM Sydney 2023 will transition to CS2. This includes the Chinese qualifiers for IEM China 2024, ESL Challenger Jönköping, ESL Challenger Atlanta, the ESL Impact S4 Finals in Valencia, and the recently announced ESL Pro Tour competitions in 2024.

Keep in mind that tournaments will also adapt to the MR12 (max rounds 12 per half) format.

Header image via Valve.