For more than two decades, the ESL Championship shaped German eSports, but at the end of the year, it’s over. National competitions no longer seem to be in demand in the ESL cosmos – although successor regulations are already being sought.
The best eSportsman in the country? The winner of the ESL Championship, of course. This rule of thumb applied for many years in Germany – for various titles. As late as 2023, “a piece of German eSports history” and “an era of German eSports” will come to an end. At least that’s what the two organisers ESL and “Freaks 4U Gaming” say. The national competitions of the ESL will no longer be held as early as 2024.
The ESL FACEIT Group has announced the discontinuation of the “ESL National Championships” programme – which also includes the ESL Championship in German-speaking countries. In this country, the current season will still be finished until the end of 2023, elsewhere the gates are already closed. The ESL FACEIT Group is linking this decision to the release of Counter-Strike 2 next year. And with its own resources.
“Two parallel ecosystems” are one too many
The eSport has developed into a “borderless sport”, nationalities no longer play too big a role. For years, the company had “cultivated two parallel ecosystems”: the country-specific one, modelled on traditional sports, and the one of pan-regional online tournaments. The former seems to be no longer in demand. The focus of the ESL FACEIT Group is to be concentrated elsewhere, “compatibility problems” avoided.
In their closing statements, ESL and Freaks 4U Gaming once again recalled the milestones: the initial phase as ESL Pro Series, the Intel Friday Night Games, the start of their own streaming services, the first stadium events in Cologne or Frankfurt.
eSports have also accompanied the ESL Championship over the years. Whether great triumphs in CS:GO, title defences in League of Legends, through starters or record champions in FIFA – great eSport athletes and teams were formed. Off-screen, the competition also delivered stories on an assembly line: of credibility crises, increased prize money and upheavals.
Gleams of hope: talks about successors
However, the chapter is possibly not quite closed yet: Freaks 4U Gaming is “in intensive exchange with players, teams, talents, the ESBD and the community”. Together, they will discuss “how and when we can set up a successor product”. This could even be integrated into the eSports ecosystem of the ESL FACEIT Group – the parent company has shown itself to be open to this.
After all, “one of the most important building blocks of the ESL Championship” should be preserved: To act as a “springboard into top international sport”. For the time being, however, Freaks 4U Gaming is referring to the farewell. About the developments on a possible successor product, they want to “keep up to date”.
