After years of sitting on their hands in the pro-CS:GO scene, Valve has suddenly announced a major change to their tournament organizer rules.

"Counter-Strike is at its best when teams compete on a level playing field and merit is the only limit to their success. Over the past few years, we've seen professional Counter-Strike move away from that ideal. The ecosystem is slowly becoming less open, and access to the highest levels of competition is increasingly limited by business relationships.

A good example of this is the ESL Pro League's "Louvre Agreement," which allows "selected elite teams to participate in the Pro League on an ongoing basis. These teams share in the revenue earned by the ESL and are given a permanent slot in the league each season, and the only way to lose that slot is to finish last in the group in three of the four seasons, at which point the slot is "subject to review." In other words, a form of relegation unfamiliar to European soccer fans, but also financially intertwined.

An obvious side effect of this deal is that it will be more difficult for up-and-coming teams to qualify for top-level tournaments; Valve's new rule change aims directly to change this situation by prohibiting business partnerships between organizers and teams The new rules are intended to:

Essentially, arrangements such as the ruble agreement will be outlawed: instead, the seeding order for all tournaments will be determined solely by performance. Instead, seeding for all tournaments will be determined solely by performance. While we do not expect this change to make an immediate difference in the lineups seen at major competitive events, top pro teams will generally occupy the top spots with or without a qualifying bye.

"While the transition will be rough, we are committed to the long-term health of the sport of Counter-Strike and look forward to its bright and open future," Valve said.

These changes will not take effect immediately: Valve said that some tournaments already have long-term contracts with professional teams, so the new rules will not take effect until 2025. Perhaps not coincidentally, that is when the current ESL Pro League Louvre Agreement expires.

After initially responding "let's do this" on Twitter, ESL Vice President Ulrich Schulz confirmed that changes will be made to accommodate the new rules when they go into effect.

"The changes to the CS ecosystem announced by Valve will take effect in 2025," Schulze tweeted." After 2025, all competitions will be based on rankings/qualifiers, and we have been working to align our events to implement the vision Valve has shared with us (our flagship is already there).

"Starting in 2025, we will move the tournament revenue sharing model from select teams to all participating teams. We will announce more details on this in the coming months."