Countdown is underway for eXTREMESLAND 2024

This will be the second LAN for Counter-Strike 2, and it is fair to say that the game has not been showered with praise in the mass media since its launch in October. That places extra importance on the event, as it will provide an opportunity for the world to see what pro gamers can get out of the game. It means the eyes of the world will be paying close attention to the second eXTREMESLAND event – the first of which took place in December 2022.

Following up on previous success 

eXTREMESLAND has an established reputation for laying on thrilling and competitive LAN tournaments in CS:GO and has been doing so since 2016. The last was in 2019 and had a prize pool of $100,000 – Team TYLOO won that one.  

Post 2019, events went online for obvious reasons, including the last event in December 2022, when Chinese team Rare Atom came out on top. As well as being the first return to a LAN tournament in more than four years, eXTREMESLAND 2024 will be the first time the tournament has featured CS2.  

A new era of esport betting? 

It is not just gamers who will be paying close attention to events in Shanghai next month. CS:GO has emerged as the most popular option among punters and has more coverage across betting sites than other games. The same can be said for other better and even lesser-known titles like Dota 2, League of Legends, Fortnite, Rocket League, and Valorant. New tournaments and leagues for these and other esports became a regular occurrence in many sportsbooks' offers, with increasing markets. Since 2020, the number of punters who've started to engage in esports betting has steadily grown. 

Betting is a significant financial driver for the development of esports, so the Counter-Strike capturing the imaginations of the punters created a significant step towards its broader adoption of other esports in the industry. 

Getting to know CS2 in tournament conditions 

This will be CS2's second showing at a significant LAN tournament. The first was at IEM Sydney in October when FaZe Clan beat tournament outsiders Complexity 2-1 in a thrilling Grand Final. That tournament was seen as a victory for FaZe Clan and CS2 as an esports spectacle. As esports influencer Mike Stubbs commented at the time, "If this is the standard of finals that CS2 can deliver, then the future looks very bright for the esports scene." 

IEM Sydney was not completely bug-free, but on the whole, the tournament passed without significant problems. The fact that Complexity's rise from zero to hero coincided with the switch from CS:GO to CS2 did not go unnoticed. Is it a coincidence or a sign that the change will cause a shake-up in the established order? 

It's impossible to answer that from one tournament, which is another reason that eXTREMESLAND 2024 will be watched so closely by esports fans, not to mention bettors and bookmakers.  

It is also worth mentioning that the CS Asia Championships 2023 took place last month in Shanghai. Although the event was not on the scale of IEM or eXTREMESLAND, it provided another opportunity to see CS2 being played out in a LAN format. Again, FaZe conquered all, suggesting that this will be the team to beat in the new CS2 era.  

More to come   

The organizers acknowledge that these are early days for CS2 and that eXTREMESLAND 2024 will serve as a warm-up for future events. In particular, they are already plugging the CS2 eXTREMESLAND Open, which will happen later in 2024. This will see the competition open up to teams from other parts of the world and will be the biggest and highest-profile yet for CS2. The date and location for the CS2 eXTREMESLAND Open is to be confirmed but will be in the latter part of 2024.  

Ultimately, CS2 represents the future of eSport's biggest money-spinner. Valve's decision to completely remove CS:GO is brave and has caused some controversy, but it means there will be no clinging to the past. Whether it proves to be a masterstroke in taking the game forward or a blunder that allows other games to take supremacy is yet to be seen. But the forthcoming eXTREMESLAND events will go a long way towards answering the question.