CSGO leads the way as one of the most popular esports titles in the world and has been helping to pave the way over the past several years. Despite the COVID-19 global pandemic having an impact on events being hosted physically on LAN (Local Area Network) environment, in general, the CSGO tournaments have kept coming online, and the production has still been respectably high quality.
Here we will cover the major events that have taken place so far this year to help provide some context regarding performances. Additionally, we will look forward to the events taking place during the second half of 2023. This will help to identify the biggest events and which ones are worth watching.
Concluded CSGO Tournaments 2023
As mentioned, here is a breakdown of all the major tournaments and events that have taken place in the CSGO Esports space since the turn of the year. Please note, all the events mentioned here ‘S-Tier Tournaments’, which were formerly known as ‘Premier Tournaments’. S-Tier Tournaments offer an outstanding prize pool and are almost exclusively played offline (at physical events on LAN). However, this has become less common due to COVID-19.
BLAST Premier: Global Final 2020
- Date: January 19th – 24th 2023.
- Prize Pool: $1,000,000.
- Teams in Attendance: 8.
- Location: Europe.
- Winner: Natus Vincere (NAVI)
- Runner Up: Astralis
Don’t let 2020 in the name fool you. It’s just because it was concluding the end of the 2020 season but did take place at the beginning of 2023. This event also featured some top teams, including G2 Esports, Complexity, Team Liquid, Evil Geniuses, Team Vitality, Astralis, and FURIA. Natus Vincere had a negative start to the event with a 2-0 defeat against Liquid which knocked them into the loser bracket. They managed to pull off an incredible loser bracket run and defeated Astralis 2-0 in the grand final.
CS_Summit 7
- Date: January 25th – 31st.
- Prize Pool: $200,000.
- Teams in Attendance: 12
- Location: Europe.
- Winner: VP (Virtus Pro)
- Runner Up: Fnatic
The event featured 12 teams, but some key teams like Astralis didn’t attend. Regardless, VP surprised many with their run to win the event.
BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2023
- Date: February 4th – 14th.
- Prize Pool: $150,000.
- Teams in Attendance: 12
- Location: Europe.
- 1st – 3rd: BIG, Complexity, Natus Vincere
This event featured three groups acting as qualifiers. Each group was played out independently and had its own winner, hence why the winners are listed as 1st – 3rd.
Intel Extreme Masters XV – World Championship
- Date: February 16th – 28th.
- Prize Pool: $1,000,000.
- Teams in Attendance: 24
- Location: Europe.
- Winner: Gambit
- Runner Up: VP
This was the first true shock of the season, which had more than one underdog story throughout it. The winners, Gambit, came through the Play-In bracket, as did VP. In the group stages, they both lost their opening games and had to make runs through the loser bracket to qualify for the final eight knockout stages. Between Gambit and VP, they defeated Natus Vincere, Astralis, and Team Liquid. Gambit eventually came out on top over VP in a 3-1 series.
ESL Pro League Season 13
- Date: March 8th – 11th.
- Prize Pool: $750,000.
- Teams in Attendance: 24
- Location: Europe.
- Winner: Heroic
- Runner Up: Gambit
The upsets kept coming at ESL Pro League Season 13, and it seemed like a new era of dominance was possibly on the horizon. We have seen a similar run of form back at the beginning of the 2019 season from ENCE. Based on that, there were a lot of opinions that the continued upsets would not continue for long.
Powerhouses Team Liquid and Natus Vincere both got eliminated early and finished 9th – 12th, with Astralis also finishing in a disappointing 5th. Gambit failed to win back-to-back S-Tier events after losing 3-2 to Heroic.
DreamHack Masters Spring 2023
- Date: April 29th – May 9th.
- Prize Pool: $250,000.
- Teams in Attendance: 16
- Location: Europe.
- Winner: Natus Vincere (NaVi)
- Runner Up: Gambit
After running jokes for quite some time about NaVi having a talented roster but an inability to win major tournaments regularly, Natus Vincere took home a second S-Tier championship in 2023 after DreamHack Masters Spring 2023. Gambit continued their impressive run of form, finishing 2nd once again, but they did get demolished 3-0 by NaVi in the grand final, after winning a close 2-1 series against them earlier in the tournament.
Inter Extreme Masters XVI – Summer
- Date: June 3rd – 13th.
- Prize Pool: $250,000.
- Teams in Attendance: 16
- Location: Europe.
- Winner: Gambit
- Runner Up: OG
This was the most recently concluded S-Tier tournament at the time of writing, but please note the BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2023 are currently taking place at this time. At this point, it seemed like the Gambit era of high performances was here to stay, and they made it back-to-back victories at IEM majors. They defeated OG comfortably 3-0 in the grand final and defeated G2 Esports, Astralis, Evil Geniuses, and Complexity during their run.
Upcoming CSGO Tournaments 2023
As it stands, there are still nine S-Tier tournaments to take place in 2023, so there is plenty of amazing, major CS:GO action to watch in the coming months. The big question right now is will Gambit continue their hot run of form, or will they eventually fall off drastically as many have predicted in recent months.
Additionally, there is a hot focus on the powerhouses of CSGO. The likes of Astralis and Team Liquid had dominated CS:GO tournaments over the past couple of years, so it is rather surprising to all of a sudden see them drop off the pace and have newcomers stepping into the spotlight.
It will also be worth keeping an eye on Ninjas in Pyjamas in the coming months as they managed to pull off the shock signing of what was Astralis’ star player, Dev1ce. The goal of rebuilding and getting back to the top where they once sat so comfortably for long periods of time became clear following this signing, and their progression will definitely be an interesting storyline.
Full List Of Upcoming CSGO Majors
| Event | Date | Prize Pool | Location | Teams Attending |
| BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2023 | June 15th – 20th | $425,000 | Europe | 8 |
| Intel Extreme Masters XVI – Cologne | July 6th – 18th | $1,000,000 | Cologne | 24 |
| ESL Pro League Season 14 | August 16th – September 12th | $750,000 | Malta | 24 |
| BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2023 | September 16th – 26th | $150,000 | TBA | 12 |
| Intel Extreme Master XVI – Fall | September 28th – October 10th | $250,000 | TBA | 16 |
| PGL Major Stockholm 2023 | October 23rd – November 7th | $2,000,000 | Stockholm | 24 |
| BLAST Premier: Fall Finals 2023 | November 23rd – 28th | $425,000 | Copenhagen | 8 |
| Intel Extreme Masters XVI – Winter | December 2nd – 12th | $250,000 | Beijing | 16 |
| BLAST Premier: World Final 2023 | December 14th – 19th | $1,000,000 | TBA | 8 |
