Let's start the new year by talking about the tournaments and events to look out for in 2023. These are the ones that will be the first to grab the attention of anyone who follows the professional scene in CS:GO and appreciates intense matches. In late December, two of the three major tournament organizations CS:GO – BLAST, ESL and Intel Extreme Masters – released the final calendar of events that await us in 2023.
Main Tournaments
The key events of the year will be three tournaments hosted by IEM. The competition will take place in January-February in Katowice, May-June in Dallas and July-August in Cologne. The prize fund at the events in Katowice and Cologne will be 1 million dollars each, while the competition in Dallas – 250 thousand, and, in addition, the latter will be attended by fewer teams – 16, not 24, as in the other two. Of course, victories in Katowice and Cologne will be taken into account in Intel Grand Slam.
Although the list of the strongest teams is largely perceived as already established, and spectators are used to seeing the same top players at the competitions, the past year has shown that surprises can happen at any moment, and the favorites are not immune to losing. How the ranking of the best teams in the world will change as a result of these tournaments, we have yet to see.
In addition, in 2023 there will be two seasons ESL Pro League – seventeenth and eighteenth. Twenty-four teams in each will compete not only for the $835,000 prize pool, but also for a direct invitation to the majors. The first tournament will take place from February 21 to April 2, and the second – from August 15 to September 23.
As you can see, the second half of the year will prove to be particularly busy, especially given the short gap between the aforementioned majors in Dallas and Cologne. As for BLAST, that organization has not yet released a full schedule of events for 2023. The company's official blog mentions that they are currently in talks with several cities that may host tournament sites
Upcoming updates
Major – tournaments aren't the only thing that will attract the attention of CS:GO players in 2023. One of the enduring topics of discussion remains the possible transition to the Source engine 2. Many were expecting as early as 2022, and information found in the game's files suggests that it will indeed happen sooner or later, but Valve has yet to give an exact date. So it remains unclear whether 2023 will be the year of the long-awaited change for many. It may have taken additional time for the developers to provide the option for players to choose one of the – engines when Dota2 was being translated to Source2, the lack of such an option was a problem for some users.
In addition, we can also expect a new operation to be released in 2023, as it has been over a year since the last one («Predatory Waters») began. Either way, 2023 in CS:GO is clearly going to be an interesting year.