The CS:GO Pro League, the world’s longest running professional league for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), recently closed its seventh season with the Finals taking place in Dallas, historically known for competitive Counter-Strike. With this season’s geographical expansion of the CS:GO Pro League, the best 16 teams from Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific, and South America battled for a lion’s share of the US $1 million prize pool in front of a packed, live audience at the Verizon Theatre on May 18-20, 2018.
After a week full of gripping esports, the six day long competition concluded on Sunday with the Grand Finale, as the Danes from Astralis claimed the coveted trophy in a 3-1 win over the North American Team Liquid, despite their home-field advantage. Not only did their win secure the prestigious title, but also counted towards the Intel® Grand Slam series. This marks the second Grand Slam win for Astralis following their success at Dreamhack Masters Marseille in April 2018, bringing them one step closer to the US $1 million bonus prize and catching up with the Brazilians SK Gaming and the European powerhouse, FaZe Clan.
“We are very happy to have brought another Pro League Season Final to Dallas, which is well known as the home of competitive Counter-Strike,” said Ulrich Schulze, Senior Vice President of Product at ESL. “The geographical expansion did not only gave new teams a chance to participate in the competition but also fostered the growth of our our viewership in the Asia-Pacific region. We are looking forward to what the next Pro League season brings.”
Over the course of Season Seven, the CS:GO Pro League garnered almost 118 million video views, marking a 42.4% growth compared to Season Six and a new all-time record for Pro League with the languages Chinese (49M), English (36M), and Russian (17M) leading views. More than 18 million hours of content, made up of 44 live streams in 22 languages across seven digital platforms including Facebook, Twitch, YouTube, Mixer, Znipe, Caffeine and Huomao, were consumed in Season Seven, led by Chinese (10M), Russian (3.6M) and English (2.1M). With a peak of over 691,000 in concurrent online viewers, Pro League saw a 10.2% increase from the previous CS:GO Pro League Season.
“Congratulations to Astralis on their Pro League win, and thank you to the other extremely talented teams that continue to help make this the premiere CS:GO league globally,” said Ken Hershman, Executive Chairman and Commissioner, WESA. “We are thrilled to culminate the season with yet another record-breaking Pro League event.”
The CS:GO Pro League will return on October 2, 2018 for Season Eight as the best teams will compete for a period of five weeks for their share of another US $1 million prize pool. All matches will be streamed exclusively via Facebook in English and Portuguese every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. To stay up to date on all information about the upcoming season, visit the official CS:GO Pro League website and follow ESL CS on Twitter and Facebook.