In Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the topic of conflict of interest is again relevant. The reason was the situation with MIBR, several former and current members of which are co-owners YeaH! Gaming: in this case, both teams will perform at the first qualifying tournament for the major. But this is far from all controversial issues, details are in the material of Cybersport.ru.
What other conflict of interest?
In the context of CS: GO, we are talking about a situation when two or more teams that are affiliated in some way with each other compete in a particular competition, or about cases when teams are associated with the tournament operator itself.
In 2018, a conflict of interest rule was introduced at FACEIT Major. Participants were required to report on existing relations with other teams, however, the rule was not applied in practice – there were no rosters connected to each other in the decisive stage of the championship.
Over time, most clubs abandoned second squads, and holdings began to part with non-core teams. They forgot about the rule, but now it is again relevant. However, now everything is more interesting: it turned out that Valve will no longer regulate this issue, you will have to answer for the tournament operator, that is, in this case – ESL.
I’m sorry, what? Valve will not regulate the issue of communication between teams?
Exactly. Recall that the initiator of the rule to prevent a conflict of interest at all stages of the tournament was Valve. However, as it has long been customary in the company, in the regulation of the Counter-Strike scene, she abandoned the tough Riot Games approach – everything is left to the tournament operators.
When the community remembered the connection between MIBR and YeaH! Gaming, the HLTV.org portal contacted Valve and found out that she would not make any decisions on the exclusion of teams from tournaments. As it turned out, the developers are satisfied that the situation began to be discussed in principle: it means that they have completed their task.
It turns out that ESL will manage everything. Before the start of ESL One: Road to Rio, the operator ordered all teams to fill out forms in which it was necessary to list the connection with other clubs – about the connection between MIBR and YeaH! Gaming was there too. At the same time, the ESL gave both teams a green light – both will fight for access to the major.
That is, there is a rule, but it does not work?
In fact, it is. Valve seems to be trying to sit on two chairs. Initially, the developers stated: “Teams and players should not have a financial interest in the success of any other team that they oppose.”
However, it now turns out that the main message of the rule is that clubs report on the existing connection. But what is next is unclear. If in practice everything will be decided solely by the tournament operator conducting the major, then the rule, in principle, makes no sense.
Yes you exaggerate! What’s so bad about that?
The very possibility of a conflict of interest is the potential for corruption. Take the same ESL. She is not only the organizer of the only major in 2023, but also, in principle, the most authoritative TO. Moreover, ESL has its own pre-franchise league with partner teams: together they share the profit of the ESL Pro League.
In short, ESL is formally connected by commercial relations with ten teams, which are similarly interconnected. What, hypothetically, will prevent the company from drawing lots of matchups according to the necessary “scenario”? And what if in the decisive game of the group stage of the MIBR Major, FaZe Clan or Evil Geniuses meet YeaH! Gaming [coldzera и zews — одни из её совладельцев — прим. ред.]?
What will happen next?
It seems that the rule is actually advisory in nature and is necessary only for show. It is most logical to assume that because of this, the youth teams, the so-called academies, which many European organizations had at one time, could return to Counter-Strike. Fnatic (same Maikil Golden Selim – a native of Fnatic academy) and North.
The prevention of a conflict of interest rests on the shoulders of TO, which means that everything will be held “on parole.” But it seems that Valve has reason to trust tournament operators. We hope the new DirecTV in Counter-Strike does not appear.
