CS:GO is among one of the most competitive Esports out there. The game has a large fanbase since the Counter-Strike 1.6. Since then, CS:GO has grown large in both scale and prize pool. The game draws in large crowds each year with each event. Many CS:GO fans are demanding a crowdfunding tournament for CS:GO
A premium game goes free
CS:GO was once priced at around $15 each player. However, the game went free to play since the late of 2018. The game seemed to follow the path of its successful brethren Dota 2. The International in Dota 2 each year is a blast with the total prize pool up to $20 million.
Since the game is free, the fanbase is expected to grow large, attracting lots of players and viewers since the game is more open to casual players. Since the move, CS:GO has been more popular than ever before, attracting even more international attention.
A larger cake, a smaller share
However, Esports is growing quick and CS:GO is not the only title out there. The last 2 years witnessed the rise of battle royale genre as PUBG rose in the popularity. CS:GO had to face constant competition from other upcoming FPS titles out there like Fornite, PUBG, Overwatch.
It is not just a race in getting fans, many Esports titles are competing in the scale and prize money of their own tournaments. CS:GO in its initial years boasted the prize pool of around $250,000 in its largest tournaments like ESL One Cologne or ESL One Katowice. The recent tournaments in CS:GO have improved a lot with many tournaments boasting $1 million prize pool.
Fornite and Dota 2
However, let’s take a look at how other games are doing?
Fornite has come out in July 2017. The game was unimpressive in its initial launch. However, as the battle royale genre rose in popularity, the game found its own foothold in the world of Esports.
Since then, Fornite is impressive with their recent Fornite World Cup 2019 which took place just last week. The $30 million tournament has made many young Esports athletes overnight millionaires. Epic Store has been successful with their project, making headlines while drawing attention to their game.
Another high profile contender for the highest prize pool event is Dota 2. The International each year is impressive with how much money it attracted. Last year, The International was massively successful with the total prize pool of $25,532,177. The winner took the lion’s share of over $11 million, placing them among the top earners in the world of Esports.
This year’s The International 2019 is even more of a blast. The event will take place this August and is mostly crowdfunded. Dota 2 fans are among the craziest community in Esports when contributing an unimaginable amount of money to the event. The event has 2 weeks left to gather more money but it has already passed the $31 million mark, surpassing the Fortnite World Cup 2019.
Please note that only 25% of the money Dota 2 players spend will actually go to the prize pool. That means fans have spent around 1 hundred million dollars into the game. To think that one PC gaming company like Valve would make $100 million out of one game title, that would be crazy.
What future awaits CS:GO?
Following the success of Fornite World Cup 2019, many pros in CS:GO have made various Tweets to congratulate the event. They event agreed with the idea of possible crowdfunding the CS:GO Major, just like its brethren Dota 2’s The International.
The former Astralis star also made a Tweet about the event. Kjærbye was once among the up and coming star in 2016 with Astralis. However, the Danish at that time got the choke tag and would most likely fall off in the playoffs. He left Astralis for North eventually.
How do CS:GO fans react?
Just like CS:GO pros, CS:GO fans would also like to have their own crowdfunding tournament. They would even make Reddit threads to call for Valve's attention and are willing to contribute to the prize pool. Berlin Major is just around the corner with 3 weeks left. The major gathers 24 teams in the world with $1 million in the prize pool. The champion will bring home $500,000 together with the most notable title in CS:GO, Major winner. That is quite the privilege any CS:GO player would dream of.
However, if the event can manage to attract more money, the crowd there would be even more impressive. Money draws in people and gives them the drive they need to accomplish the unimaginable feat. CS:GO Majors used to be quite a hype with many great shows in the grand finals. Cloud9 and Gambit making the underdog runs took the world by storm.
Currently, there is no response from Valve where they would allow crowdfunding for the Major or not. This may be due to the fact that The International is already drawing near, Valve needs to prepare their best for the $31+ million event. Hopefully, CS:GO gets the attention it deserves from Valve.
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