Esports is a lot like any form of competition, in that a long enough view will make it seem like an infinite loop. There are stories and thoughts that come up over and over, and one of the most prevalent recent ones is the idea CSGO could benefit from adopting the Dota Pro Circuit points system run by Valve for Dota 2, and eventually working toward having a CS version of The International.
Often, the people espousing this idea are multi-game pundits who only have a surface level understanding of games, and assume that what is good for the goose is good for the gander, but there have been signs this year that the DPC is even having a negative effect on the game of Dota. For years the argument was that Dota had the biggest event in esports, and CSGO only had two Majors to Dota’s five, but 2018-19 suggests it’s the other way around.
Two majors better than one
Instead of CSGO missing out by not having the ‘flagship’ event that dominates the calendar, what seems to be the case is that CS has two majors a year, and Dota only has one. While the likes of MDL and DreamLeague are listed as majors, the reality is that TI sits on the Dota calendar like a bowling ball on a blancmange, distorting everything around it and creating a situation that devalues the majors themselves.
This can be seen with the MDL Paris Major right now, if you compare it to other games. If CSGO or Overwatch were to secure a venue like Disneyland it would be groundbreaking (although CS never will because terrorism is a hard no for Disney), where the Dota event seems underwhelming, and like a qualifier for TI rather than a major in its own right.
That is not to say that aspects of TI can’t be included in CSGO, but the assumption that Dota is number one because it has the headline prize pool needs to be put to bed. Those who follow Valve’s favourite esport will know that recent times have been a tad troubled with the Chongqing issue, Battle Pass disappointment, apparently rampant corruption and the murky way the game still is run outside of the biggest organisations, showing the DPC is far from the universal panacea it can be presented as.
There is evolution to come for the CSGO world, as we’ve seen in Valve’s decision to lock in major dates for 2020 and 2021, and the important thing is that CS evolves in a way that works for the greatest FPS. There are so many cultural, geographical, financial even political factors that are vastly different from esport to esport that it must be time we finally accepted CS doesn’t need a TI, or DPC, but solutions to fit its own unique issues, and that the DPC is far from perfect in its own right.
