The Major of Counter-Strike, which ended Sunday in Paris with the unprecedented victory of the French structure Vitality, was a “great success” with more than 50,000 people gathered in Bercy for four days, told AFP Robbie Douek, boss of BLAST, the company organizing the event.
“The Major was an incredible celebration and a great success. We sold 43,000 tickets over the four days of the tournament and welcomed nearly 50,000 people to Bercy”, welcomed Mr. Douek.
Taking place from May 18 to 21 at the Accor Arena, this major esports event, the first of its kind organized in France, saw the eight best teams in the world compete in the famous shooting game Counter-Strike, in front of an excited audience.
“We are delighted with the atmosphere in the stands. Counter-Strike has a long history and its longevity is proof that it is a game that knows how to captivate players and fans”, estimated the CEO of BLAST, a Danish company.
At the end of the four days of competition, it was the Vitality club which won against the Germans of GamerLegion, becoming the 2nd French structure to win a Counter-Strike Major, the equivalent of a Grand Slam in Tennis.
“We felt during the event that we had reached a + mainstream + side with a growing interest from the general public. The government pushed for this competition and then entrusted the organization to BLAST who made a great job,” Fabien “Néo” Devide, co-founder of Vitality, told AFP the day after the victory.
Online, the event racked up 58 million viewing hours, peaking at 1.5 million concurrent viewers during the final on Sunday, according to BLAST figures, making it the “3rd most-watched Counter-Strike game of all time”.
The tournament was also televised in nearly 100 territories in 27 languages and was mentioned 157 million times on TikTok, according to the same source.
The Copenhagen-based company finally claimed that the economic benefits for Paris amounted to more than 27 million euros, including 6.6 million euros for the tourism sector.
It was the last major tournament for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, after ten years of competitions around the world, before the release of a new opus this summer. For the occasion, the American publisher of the game, Valve, had planned an overall endowment of 1.25 million dollars (1.15 million euros).
