BLAST reveals dates for 2023 calendar

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive professional esports league BLAST Premier has revealed the calendar for the upcoming CS:GO calendar year. BLAST has also revealed the prize pools for the tournaments, with the circuit getting underway with the Spring Groups in January and concluding with the World Finals in December.

The BLAST Spring Groups will kick off mid-January, following which the Spring Showdown will take place in April. The Spring season will end with the Spring Finals in June. The Fall season will start with the BLAST Fall Groups in July, after which the Fall Showdown will take place in October and the Fall Finals in November. The BLAST World Finals will take place in December. The Spring Groups will have a prize pool of US$177,500, and it will be US$135,000 for the Spring Showdown, US$425,000 for the Spring Finals, US$177,500 for the Fall Groups, US$135,000 for Fall Showdown and US$425,000 for the Fall Finals. The World Finals will have a whopping prize pool of US$1,000,000. 

Also read: Top 10 eSports organisations in the world

The Spring Groups and Fall Groups will have a best-of-three format for matches, and the group winners will advance directly to the Spring and Fall Final arena events. The other three teams from the groups will be moved to the “Gauntlet”. Three winners from the Gauntlet will head to the Spring and Fall Finals and the other six teams will head to the Showdown events. The Showdown events will be played online. The Spring and Fall Groups will be hosted in front of a crowd on LAN, while the Spring, Fall and World Finals will be arena events in front of live audiences. The locations of the events are yet to be confirmed. 

BLAST has also revealed that more than a hundred teams will have a chance to take part in the BLAST Premier Qualifiers through regional qualifiers. By winning the Showdowns, teams will be able to take part in either the Spring or Fall Finals events. The qualifying regions for the Spring and Fall seasons are: 

Spring Showdown:

• Eastern Europe
• Western Europe
• Nordics
• North America
• South America
• Asia

Fall Showdown:

• Eastern Europe
• Western Europe
• Nordics
• North America
• South America
• China
• Oceania
• MENA

Charlotte Kenny, Managing Director of BLAST Premier, commented:

“We’re excited for what the BLAST Premier 2023 season has in store in its fourth year. 2023 will be the second year running where we have all of our finals in packed-out arenas in leading locations around the world. We’re excited to deliver another 12 months of next-level entertainment and follow up on the success of last year’s arena events in Lisbon, Copenhagen and Abu Dhabi. 

“This year, the BLAST Premier Qualifiers return, giving grassroots teams the chance to play at the highest level against the world’s best – with 14 regional qualifiers set to take place across the year.“

The BLAST Premier 2023 Member Teams are: Astralis, BIG, Complexity, EG, Faze, G2, Heroic, Liquid, NaVi, NIP, OG and Vitality.