DeKay Scope: Valve Needs to Clarify the Major Status

Since Valve announced in March the ESL One: Rio Major would be delayed from May to November as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, little has been revealed. Now, less than three months until the new start date, it’s an open secret the event won’t be played as originally planned. As such, prospective Major teams deserve clarification about what they are playing for and when they can hope to do it -- sooner rather than later.

Simply rescheduling the Major again is not good enough, nor is it an adequate resolution to the problem. Nothing indicates the Major can exist anytime soon, at least in the way the CS:GO community would prefer. I have been unsuccessful in locating a single individual behind the scenes who is interested in traveling to Brazil anytime soon or interested in playing in an online regionalized Major. It’s a difficult problem to solve, but that doesn’t mean it’s acceptable to leave everyone in the dark with the rescheduled date looming.

No matter what decision is made, it should be made now so the stakeholders involved can be notified immediately. Change of location means a new set of hurdles exist when teams attempt to acquire visas for competitive play, so they will need to know as soon as possible. Without fans, some might feel it isn’t worth all of the effort to play offline, but that should be discussed. Even an underwhelming change like an online Major is worth relaying to everyone in the ecosystem, given how much time has elapsed since the Starladder Major nearly a year ago.

It has been a blessing that players have still been able to play as professionals and fans have been able to watch during this period. But there comes a point in time where clarification about the most prestigious trophy in the game is necessary. Traditional sports would have never returned during this pandemic without a plan for their respective playoffs. If they can forge a plan and implement it, the least Valve can do is clarify what their future intentions are for a Counter-Strike Major.