Great news for CS: GO fans traveling to Paris in May this year!
The BLAST.tv Paris Major is the first CS: GO Major of 2023. With a $1.25 million prize pool and 24 of the best CS: GO teams from all over the world, this Major will be the first CS: GO Major on French soil. The tournament organizer has revealed today in a press conference that the BLAST.tv Paris Major broadcast will be in English.
France has a long history in Counter-Strike with some of the biggest names of all time coming from the country. Names like KennyS, Shox, NBK, and many more donating the CS: GO scene in different eras, French CS: GO has carved a name for itself. And Valve’s FPS title has a loyal fan following in the country.
Explaining the decision to host English commentary at the venue
When asked during the press conference on the org’s decision to broadcast in English at the venue, for a majority French audience, Nicolas Estrup, Chief Innovation Officer said they were trying to find the perfect balance.
“The hardest thing to try to navigate when you try to go to any other country in the world that is not native English speakers,” Nicolas Estrup, Chief Innovation Officer, BLAST said on the BLAST.tv Paris Major broadcast language. “Historically we do quite militant surveying. So every time we've been to an event, every ticket holder will get a survey. We see quite high rates on people responding to those which is quite exciting, but it also gives us quite a good measure of what it actually feels like for people around the subject. That's one of the questions on every survey that we do.”
“And historically it's always been a clean 50-50 split as you can imagine,” he continued. “So that's why in the past, we've tried both. For this one, with just the scale and importance of it -- how iconic an event this is -- We know historically from other Majors how many people travel in. Historically if you do it in a native tongue, we think that will be a big detractor. That means people won't travel for it. So we're trying to make it as inclusive as possible without dismissing the big local crowd as well.”
Location of the Legends and Challengers stage - Paris?
While the main event will take place at the Accor Arena in Paris, the location of the Legends and Challengers stage is not yet announced.
However, BLAST is working hard to ensure the Legends and Challengers Stage takes place in Paris.
Challengers and Legends will likely be here in Paris. We're finalizing our structures and planning around that.
Whether these events will feature a live audience or not is still unconfirmed. The BLAST.tv Paris Major kicks off on May 8, 2023 and all matches will be broadcast live on Twitch as well as blast.tv. In fact, BLAST will open a pre-sale of tickets on January 23 for users that sign up on blast.tv.
Stay tuned to esports for the latest CS: GO news and updates.