Perfect World has announced that it has reached an agreement with Valve for the rights to operate CS:GO in mainland China.

The move is long overdue and will finally allow Chinese players to have access to domestic matchmaking servers, which is expected to provide a considerable boost to the country's already growing community.

Up until this point, Chinese players have been forced to use private platforms like 5E (China's equivalent of ESEA) to play on low ping servers.



CS:GO continues to grow in China

In anticipating this move, a number of top Chinese esports organisations, such as Vici Gaming and EDward Gaming, have recently expanded to CS:GO, and more could soon follow suit.

"Perfect World will spare no effort to promote CS:GO in China and further optimize the player's gaming experience," said Perfect World president Zhang Yunfan. "We will continue to strengthen the competitive nature of the game. Together with Valve's research and development capabilities, we are certain that we will make CS:GO a great success in the country."

Since the start of the year, China has hosted several big CS:GO tournaments, the most recent of which being the Pro Gamer League Summer finals, which saw Epsilon secure the lion's share of a $100,000 prize pool.

In September, the city of Nanjing will stage the offline finals of SL i-League StarSeries Season 2, where 16 teams from all over the world will face off for their share of a $300,000 prize fund.