The much anticipated CS2 beta may start sooner rather than later, with fans likely to have the game played professionally at the IEM Cologne, which starts July 25 to Aug. 6. IEM Cologne will start immediately after the summer break.
IEM Cologne is one of the first tier-one tournaments that will run on CS2 instead of CS:GO. ESL stated this with optimism on Monday, June 12.
“We are excited by the prospect of potentially having IEM Cologne be the first top-tier, global Counter-Strike 2 tournament. With that said, we will remain cautiously optimistic because we want the game to be in a good playable, and competitive state. This is key for us at such a prestigious tournament where we are looking to crown the world’s best team.” ESL said.
Counter-Strike 2 was announced in March, but fans have been wondering if IEM Cologne 2023 would be played on CS:GO or CS2. IEM Cologne is one of the most popular and important Counter-Strike events on the calendar, which happens at the Cathedral of CS, which is the LANXESS Arena that receives fans from all around the world.
Meanwhile, the 24 teams that will feature at the IEM Cologne were revealed on Monday, with some categorized into the group stage with 16 others placed into the play-in stage. Eight of the sixteen will then progress to the group stage.
The teams handed a group stage invite are G2, FaZe Clan, Vitality, ENCE, Heroic, Cloud9, Natus Vincere, and GamerLegion. The sixteen others who would be looking to pick one of the eight available slots are MOUZ, Apeks, 9INE, FURIA, Team Liquid, The Mongolz, BIG Academy, Fnatic, paiN Gaming, Monte, Ninjas in Pyjamas, FORZE, Astralis, and Into the Breach.
Some players can only play CS2 beta despite the IEM Cologne being 45 days away; this means that Valve may have to quickly process the game to the playable level that ESL wants.
Daniel Ademiju Idowu
