ESL has announced the start date of the CS 2 tournaments

Graham du Toit, the Head of Sales and Marketing at ESL, has expressed his thoughts regarding the transition from CS:GO to CS 2. He mentioned that he lacks specific information about the exact start date of championships in the updated version of the game.

When asked which version of CS will be played until October, Graham humorously responded that it's a million-dollar question. He emphasized that even if CS 2 is available only as a free game, it will still be included in events such as DreamHack Melbourne. A show match has already been held at the Dallas tournament. However, Graham admitted that he is unaware of when the CS 2 championships will commence.

Graham emphasized that the decision to release the game and incorporate it into tournaments rests with Valve. ESL will subsequently evaluate what aligns best with their own events, pending approval from Valve.

In April, there was a possibility of organizing IEM Cologne 2023 in Counter-Strike 2. However, the organizers emphasized that it is dependent on Valve's decision. The championships are scheduled to begin on July 25 in Germany.

Later, professional player Owen "smooya" Butterfield speculated that Valve may not permit ESL to conduct the event in Cologne using the new version of CS. He explained that the studio has not yet tested all the maps that are part of the esports map pool.