ESL Pro League playoffs to play out in CS:GO

ESL decided against a controversial mid-playoffs switch to Counter-Strike 2.

ESL Pro League Season 18 will go down as CS:GO's last big event

The remainder of the ESL Pro League Season 18 playoffs will be played in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive despite Wednesday's release of Counter-Strike 2.

ESL announced this following the official launch of the new game, which dropped during the second round of the ongoing playoffs bracket in Malta.

"As the tournament is currently ongoing and in order to preserve the tournament integrity EPL S18 will continue to be played on CS:GO," ESL's statement reads.

Ahead of the start of the playoffs the tournament organizers surveyed the teams behind the scenes about a possible switch to Counter-Strike 2 for the later stages of the bracket in the event that the new game launches. ESL did not reveal the results of this survey or whether the final decision was based on it.

Read more ESL polls teams on mid-EPL playoffs switch to CS2

The possibility of a mid-playoff switch to CS2 was seen by many in the community as a ridiculous notion, given that it would ruin the tournament's integrity after the vast majority of it had been played in CS:GO.

In the event of a substantial gameplay update arriving during or close to the kick-off of a competition, ESL and BLAST, who run the vast majority of the top Counter-Strike circuit, typically choose to run the tournament on an outdated version of the game.

HLTV has learned this solution will be temporarily available in this case, as well, to allow esports tournaments to finish in Global Offensive before it is definitively replaced by its successor in high-level competition.

The remainder of the ESL Pro League Season 18 playoffs schedule looks as follows:

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 18
28/09/2023	Vitality15:45 Monte	Match
28/09/2023	Natus Vincere19:00 Eternal Fire	Match
29/09/2023	ENCE15:30 Movistar Riders	Match
29/09/2023	G219:00 MOUZ	Match
30/09/2023	Monte15:30 Natus Vincere	Match
30/09/2023	ENCE19:00 MOUZ	Match
01/10/2023	Natus Vincere16:00 MOUZ	Match