FACEIT are due to host the next Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major later this year, and the venue for the event was announced today.
The event will run from September 19th-22nd, and will be held in London, at the Wembley Arena, in what is a first for CSGO, with a Major never before having been held in the UK. Tickets are due to go on sale on April 2nd, with no news yet on the expected format of the competition, while the Arena boasts a capacity of 10,000 seats, making for a very respectable crowd and atmosphere.
According to comments made by staff, the event will run across all four days to maximise the amount of operational time available, and hopefully allow the organisers to deal with the UK’s famously awful internet. While there are no UK orgs or even players in with a realistic shout of winning the event, it will be great to see the UK fans rewarded with a Major, and will give a good picture of the viability of future events in that part of the world.
"The community has been at the heart of everything we do at FACEIT, and were so grateful for the support of the players on our platform and those who’ve attended and watched ECS," said Michele Attisani, Chief Business Officer and Co-Founder of FACEIT, quoted in Unikrn. "Were excited to create an amazing celebration of CS:GO to honour that commitment. We look forward to seeing everyone there in September."
The previous Major was held in Boston, and saw Cloud 9 claim not only their first Major win, but also the first by any team from North America. Record viewing figures were set on Twitch, with over 1.1m tuning in to see FaZe Clan face off against the eventual champions, and James Bardolph alongside Dan Kapadia on commentary. With that pair currently FACEIT’s tame duo, and considered to be among the best in the world, we can expect to hear them again in London for the final.
In an interview with FACEIT co-founder and Chief Business Officer (CBO) Michele Attisani on HLTV, there were also some interesting comments about where the event could be streamed, which is certainly a hot topic due to ESL’s deal with Facebook. Attisani told HLTV, “It’s great to see different streaming platforms investing in their products and fighting for broadcasting rights as competition eventually provides for better platforms and content for the fans/community”.
He went on, rather cryptically, “Regarding the Major, we’re talking with different platforms and assessing which value each can bring to the CS:GO community as well as possible exclusive features for the Major”. Whether this means Facebook, YouTube, Twitch or even a TV company could be involved, we will have to wait and see, but it is fair to say the rapid growth of esports means each never Major has the potential to change the face of the scene, and London will be no exception.
