Major tournament organizer ESEA this week revealed how the competition will change in 2021. First of all, the number of seasons will increase: instead of three there will be four, and at the same time, “training seasons” will be removed from the program, the victory of which did not allow one to qualify for the ESL Pro League. Thus, the leader of any ESEA Premier season will qualify for the next ESL league cycle.
In addition, the company has increased the prize fund of the competition: now a total of $100,000 will be awarded in each season. This amount will be distributed among the top eight teams in Europe and North America. ESL General Manager for Counter Strike: Global Offensive Brian Kremer commented on these changes as follows: “We took into account the feedback of many teams, especially the second tier, and realized that the system we were using before was not good enough. Many players are not motivated enough to play in the MDL and do not see a path that would allow them to become professional eSports players, especially after the changes that took place in the ESL Pro League last year. The path that remained to them did not seem either easy or attractive to them.
Now tournament organizers are hoping to change this situation. Shorter competitive seasons played more frequently will allow teams to level up faster and avoid long gaps between major games.
