Cryptocurrency betting company Thunderpick has announced a new $600,000 (~£468,000) prize pool CS:GO tournament series called the Thunderpick CS:GO World Championship.
The tournament, taking place from July to November 2023, will consist of regional qualifiers and a LAN finals. The prize pool figure will be paid out in Bitcoin.
The four qualifiers will have prize pools of $25,000 (~£19,500), and the grand final will have a $500,000 (~£390,000) prize pool. Esports data company GRID has been selected as a partner of the event.
Thunderpick is an esports betting platform that focuses on cryptocurrency betting. The company entered the public eye with a high-profile partnership with North American esports organisation Evil Geniuses, which included all of its rosters. The organisation will also be directly invited to the LAN finals of the World Championship, Thunderpick revealed.
This is not the first foray into esports event organisation for the brand. Thunderpick has organised several CS:GO tournaments and one Dota 2 tournament in 2022. All prizes were also paid in Bitcoin. The two CS:GO tournaments had prize pools of $75,000 (£58,000) and $80,000 (£62,000), while the Dota 2 tournament had a $45,000 (£36,000) pool.
The World Championship grand finals will feature eight teams that advance through the qualifiers and eight invited teams. Interestingly, Thunderpick announced that it will sponsor bootcamps in Europe for North American teams that qualify for the LAN finals, with all qualifiers taking place online in their respective regions. This implies that the finals will take place in Europe, but no venue or date has been announced.
Esports data company GRID will provide Thunderpick with its Esports Solutions toolkit that includes tournament tooling, visualisation products, and data infrastructure.
Kelly Sanders, Head of Strategy for Thunderpick, commented: “We are thrilled to bring the Thunderpick World Championship 2023 to the professional CS:GO scene. This exceptional competition will feature some of the world’s best esports talent competing for a record-setting prize pool of $600,000 in guaranteed Bitcoin.
We take great pride in supporting and growing esports and the players’ opportunities with this tournament, which will surely be an epic experience that players, fans, and our users will remember for a long time to come.”
