Esports tournament platform FACEIT, a subsidiary of ESL FACEIT Group, has postponed the upcoming edition of its CS:GO NA Collegiate league.
The news was shared in a statement by Duran Parsi, the Head of Collegiate for ESL FACEIT Group. The reason for postponing is tied to internal reorganisation following FACEIT’s merger with ESL Gaming, with the company announcing that it needs more time to finalise its plan for the collegiate league.
Registrations for the North American section of the tournament were set to conclude on January 23rd. However, the announcement of its cancellation was made public just a short time afterwards. This means that both players and colleges were preparing for the event and did not know that there will be no event until after registration.
The tournament series was announced in July 2022, with a $70,000 (~£56,900) prize pool across three regions: North America, Europe and Brazil.
Due to the cancellation of the event, Parsi has stated that players who graduate this spring will still be able to participate in the Fall season. This is due to a ‘one-time rule’ FACEIT has made that will allow students no longer enrolled in colleges to participate.
Duran Parsi, Head of Collegiate at ESL FACEIT Group, commented: “We are not currently prepared to run a NA collegiate CS:GO league this Spring as originally planned. We will postpone the NA league until Fall 2023 to give us more time to finalise our team structure, goals, plan, and get all the necessary budgets approved.”
The company also shared news about the upcoming season — aimed at improving the overall experience — and its goals following this cancellation. This includes providing broader support for schools and clubs that will allow FACEIT to better support collegiate events that are not their own.
Secondly, the company plans to tie the FACEIT Premier League more with the collegiate scene, making it easier for players to potentially go pro. Finally, FACEIT will look to possibly host a live final event for the collegiate CS:GO tournament at one of DreamHack’s upcoming events.
These plans are not set in stone, however, according to FACEIT the company working on growing and sustaining collegiate esports in the future. Information regarding its CS:GO Collegiate leagues in Europe and Brazil was not disclosed.
