The lateness of the PGL Antwerp Major RMR dates did not go well with the community.
PGL’s original Antwerp Major RMR dates clashed with several other third-party events, a scheduling conflict that received flak from the CS: GO community. The tournament organizer has now announced changes to its original dates to ensure compatibility with other events.
The Antwerp Major will feature three RMR events, all of them to take place in Bucharest Romania. The offline events were originally to take place from April 11-24, 2022.
After the backlash over the scheduling conflicts, PGL announced it will adjust the dates to allow teams to participate.
We will discuss with the teams and other TOs, and we will adjust the Open Qualifiers dates to allow every team to register and fight for a place at the RMR event.
Which tournament dates were clashing with PGL Antwerp Major RMR events?
The open qualifiers for both the Americas and the Europe RMR clashed with IEM Katowice. IEM Katowice is one of the biggest CS: GO events outside of the Major. It holds a special place for many players who aspire to play in front of the Spodek Arena.
IEM Katowice is scheduled to take place from February 15 to 27. The Open qualifiers for Americas and Europe open qualifiers clash with the Katowice-based. This has caused problems for teams that would appear in IEM Katowice.
FURIA is the only team that would not be affected. It has already secured its spot in the RMR event. FURIA finished in the 5-8th spot at the PGL Stockholm Major.
For European teams, the IEM Katowice group stage clashes with the first and second European qualifiers.
BLAST Premier Spring Showdown
The other event that would have been impacted because of the original RMR dates was BLAST Premier Spring Showdown. The tournament would have taken place during the same time as the second Europe RMR. As of now, the only team that would have been impacted would be Ninjas in Pyjamas.
Community backlash over Announcement timing
The announcement for the open qualifiers came just ten days prior to the dates. The lateness of the announcement coupled with a few format changes did not go well with the community. The NA and SA regions are now part of one qualifier, the Asia-Oceanic qualifiers are also one, albeit with fewer slots. This does not bode well for the development of the CS: GO esports scene in the Asia-Oceania region.
CS: GO fans can expect more details about the changes to the event schedule in the next few days.
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