Esports cryptocurrency betting platform Thunderpick has announced a global Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) tournament featuring a $1m (~£788,800) prize pool.
The second edition of the Thunderpick World Championship will commence on April 1st, with the World Finals in late October.
The event will include six qualifiers across Europe, North America, and South America – the latter being a newly introduced region. All qualifiers will be held remotely within their respective regions. Further details about the championship’s schedule will be released on the Thunderpick website.
The 2023 Thunderpick World Championship garnered 144,317 peak viewers, according to esports data platform Esports Charts. While its $600,000 (~£473,300) prize pool was paid out in Bitcoin, the 2024 champions will receive their rewards in cash.
Moreover, Thunderpick has renewed its partnership with esports data company GRID for the upcoming competition. As the official esports services provider and data partner, the GRID platform will once again support the World Championship with tournament tools, data visualisation and a reliable infrastructure.
Thunderpick is a crypto-only betting platform offering betting and viewing services across a variety of esports events and markets. The company has previously worked with esports organisation Evil Geniuses and women-in-esports community the*gameHERs.
Gaming and esports bookmakers have remained a relevant topic throughout 2023. Unikrn downscaled its B2C operations in October last year as a means to ‘reposition’ its offering into parent company Entain.
However, other stakeholders in the space have expanded their operations. Esports betting company Picklebet raised AUD$15m (~£7.73m) to boost its international expansion. Similarly, GG.BET made moves to operate in the Ukrainian market.
Kelly Sanders, Head of Strategy for Thunderpick, commented on the upcoming CS2 event: “The Thunderpick World Championship 2024 will be one of the most exciting tournaments of the year, featuring some of the top talent in the world of CS2. […] This tournament not only underscores our dedication to the diverse and growing esports community but also marks a new milestone in our event series.
“Expect intense competition and high-quality gameplay that will captivate fans and players around the world.”
