ESL FACEIT Group (EFG) has recently revealed that the ESEA league system will be transitioning to the FACEIT platform, and the upcoming season is set to commence in August.
Despite the move to FACEIT, the league will maintain its existing divisions and structure, namely Challenger, Advanced, Main, Intermediate, and Open. Additionally, the ESEA website will continue to serve as an archive for past seasons.
According to EFG, the primary motivation behind this transition is to leverage FACEIT‘s top-of-the-line anti-cheat system, which is highly regarded in the industry. Moreover, the integration of the ESEA League with the FACEIT platform aims to enhance the overall team league experience, providing a superior and more equitable environment for players.
Over the past year, we have been in continuous dialogue with our community, and it has become clear that moving the ESEA League to the FACEIT Platform could offer substantial benefits to the Counter Strike grassroot ecosystem across the world,” said Milos Nedeljkovic, Director of Product Marketing at ESL FACEIT Group. Working together as one team to leverage the anti-cheat and platform technology we have been developing for years will put us in a better position to provide our players with a more trusted, balanced and enjoyable team league experience.
Milos Nedeljkovic, Director of Product Marketing at ESL FACEIT Group
Community figures and active players have long been advocating for a transition to the FACEIT platform due to persistent issues with the ESEA client. One notable incident occurred during the IEM Rio Major South America Open Qualifiers, which had to be moved to FACEIT due to multiple problems on the ESEA platform. While EFG has not officially announced the platform change for qualifiers, it is expected that other events organized on the ESEA system will also shift to FACEIT.
Another factor contributing to the switch is the imminent release of CS2, which presents significant technical and operational challenges. Recognizing the potential difficulties, EFG has stated that integrating Counter-Strike 2 on ESEA would be highly demanding. As a result, they have chosen to prioritize timely readiness and focus on migrating to the already established FACEIT platform, which already offers a functional CS2 integration.
The merger between ESEA and FACEIT also entails the integration of their subscription services. Players with an active League Pass subscription on ESEA will automatically receive the new ESEA League Pass and FACEIT premium as long as they maintain their subscription on ESEA. Furthermore, ESEA has announced a Pre-Season Circuit for July, featuring a prize pool of $36,000, to ensure that users derive maximum value from the new ESEA League Pass subscription on FACEIT.
