Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is going… well, global.

With the ESL One: Rio 2020 major quickly approaching on May 11-24 2020, CS:GO will host a major in the global South for the first time in its brief but prolific history. As Counter-Strike competitions become increasingly diverse and international, Valve is quickly building a strong global audience for their game. ESL’s expansion of locations where esports majors are hosted is making a significant impact on the population and popularity of Counter-Strike and esports in those markets.

CS:GO tournaments branch out

When professional Counter-Strike majors first began all the way back in 2013, the CS community was concentrated primarily in the European Union and Russia. Teams like Fnatic from Sweden, Virtus.Pro from Russia, and Ninjas in Pyjamas from Sweden dominated the early tournaments. From 2013 to 2015, every single tournament was hosted in Europe, with very little attention going to international teams from the North or South America.

As a result, the fanbase of Counter-Strike primarily resided in Europe.

North America was, however, building an interest in Counter-Strike throughout these early days. Several NA teams such as Cloud9 and Faze Clan were competing and seeking to qualify for majors. In 2016, for the first time ever, the MLG Major Championship: Columbus Major was hosted outside of Europe, in Columbus, Ohio. Not only was it a big deal to see CS played in the United States, it was also a hugely successful tournament. Since that time, majors have been hosted in Atlanta and Boston, in addition to London, Berlin, Krakow, and Cologne.

The increasingly international nature of Counter-Strike is encouraging ESL and other Esport organizations to look for venues and fan bases throughout the globe. Brazil’s CS:Go audience has been exploding on the backs of the formation of several high profile Brazilian teams, especially Furia, who recently announced an all female roster, and Made in Brazil (MIBR) who has seen some success over the past couple of years.

O apoio da torcida no Major foi incrível, agora queremos ver a força da família MIBR em nossa casa! 🇧🇷



The support of our fans at the Major was incredible, now we want to see the strength of the MIBR family in our home! 🇧🇷#SomosMIBR pic.twitter.com/0z0x5oNlh0 — MIBR (@mibr) March 18, 2019

The growing popularity of CS:GO points to a bright future for the game on the global stage.

ESL Rio Major points to changes in CS:GO

No upcoming tournament is more on the minds of high level CS professional teams than the upcoming ESL Rio major. The tournament will include a $1,000,000 prize pool, and brings with it nearly a month of competition in Brazil.

On April 26-May 3, 32 minor teams from the EU, Americas, Asia, and Commonwealth of Independent States will compete for a spot in the challenger stage.

On May 11-14, 16 teams will compete in the challenger stage to advance to the legends stage

On May 16-19, 8 teams will compete in the legends stage for a shot to advance to champions stage.

Finally, on May 21-24, 8 teams will compete to be named the ESL Rio One 2020 champions.

“We are extremely excited and proud to host the next Major in Brazil,” explained Ulrich Schulze, Senior Vice President of Product at ESL, in a press release. “Our aim is to bring pure esports moments to the most passionate fans around the world and reward them by creating a unique experience on all levels. With teams from all over the world having a chance to qualify and making their way to the final, we expect matches to be incredible and the crowd to be the loudest we have ever seen.”

Bringing the Major to Rio demonstrates the strength of CS’s global audience in Brazil and shows ESL’s commitment to serving their fan bases around the world.

Cralos Augusto Buarque, Marketing Director of Intel in Brazil addressed the importance of this tournament in a statement saying: “Intel is excited to bring to Brazil this important ESL championship. The gaming and esports market has grown exponentially in the past years not only in Brazil, but also around the world, and we continue our mission to invest and develop leading gaming products focused on this market.”

Brazilian’s fans are known for being passionate about their teams and the opportunity to host a home tournament will likely bring out the most hardcore, and probably loud, fans that Brazil has to offer.

The increasingly international future for Esports

What started in Europe as a relatively small esports competition has quickly expanded to North America, South America, and beyond. Counter-Strike now has teams competing from Europe, North America, South America, Asia, and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Esports is connecting people from around the world through games and competitions that we love.

The future of esports is diverse and international and ESL seems to understand that.

It’s great to see the expansion of a tournament in Brazil, especially considering how important Brazilian teams have been throughout the past few years of Counter-Strike. Hopefully, this points to even more diverse and inclusive tournament locations in the future.