On Monday, the ESL FACEIT Group (EFG) unveiled significant updates to its ESL Pro Tour (EPT), detailing prize pool adjustments, creating a new Annual Club Incentive, and timelines for 2025 invitations.
Starting in 2025, EFG will divide prize pools into two categories: player prize money and club prize money. This shift aims to foster a more sustainable competitive environment, emphasizing robust base salaries for players and enhanced organizational support. The prize pool for two of the most prestigious events, IEM Katowice and IEM Cologne has been raised by $250,000, bringing the total to $1.25 million. Players will receive most of the prize pool in these events, with $1 million allocated to teams and $250,000 designated for clubs.
Other planned tournaments in the 2025 EPT schedule will offer $1 million in prize money, with distributions varying between a 30-70 and 40-60 split between player and club allocations.
Next year also marks the debut of the Annual Club Incentive, an inclusive program designed to reward teams for their engagement with the EPT. This initiative will allocate $2.95 million to the 16 teams making the most significant contributions, measured by attendance, viewership, and promotional involvement with ESL events. Contributions will be calculated using the formula: Club Contribution = V x N, where V represents the total viewership points earned across tournaments, and N reflects the number of events participated.
Tournament weighting will vary based on factors like event length and travel complexity. Longer competitions, such as the ESL Pro League, and events hosted outside Europe, like IEM Chengdu and IEM Dallas, offer more viewership points than higher-profile tournaments like Katowice and Cologne. Teams can opt into the Annual Club Incentive by signing the necessary documentation, which will soon be available.
EFG stated that the Annual Club Incentive and Club Prize Money payouts are tied to their projected revenue and profit figures, with 10% of revenue and 25% of profit from tier-one CS2 esports allocated for these purposes.
“Our commitment to the Counter-Strike ecosystem involves a financial strategy to support the long-term growth of teams and players,” said Marc Winther, EFG’s Director of Game Ecosystems for Counter-Strike. “This initiative ensures stability and enables organizations to continue investing in their rosters and the game itself.”
In other announcements, EFG confirmed that ESL Pro League 21, scheduled for March 1-16, will be held at the ESL studios in Stockholm. The event will feature a 24-team roster, team-selected seeding for the Swiss stages, and a live ELO system that dynamically updates after every match.
EFG also shared the cut-off dates for team invitations to its 2025 tournaments. Invitations will be determined based on the Valve Regional Standings published on specific dates:
- IEM Katowice 2025: January 2025
- ESL Pro League 21: January 2025
- IEM Spring 2025: February 2025
- IEM Dallas 2025: February 2025
- IEM Cologne 2025: June 2025
- ESL Pro League 22: July 2025
- IEM Chengdu 2025: August 2025
