Written by Jordan “analyze” Schultz
A popular form of watching Counter-Strike took a blow today when ESL decided to ban all HLTV’s from offline events. The reason is presumably based around attempts to generate more revenue during difficult financial times.
HLTV’s have always been the fan favorite way for viewing matches. Think, when you are watching the Super Bowl, what do you see besides the actual event? You see loads and loads of commercials. With HLTV’s commercials are not possible for the event organizers but there is a way to make them possible: by broadcasting through a stream. Viewers will be forced to tune into a stream via ESL’s website. They will have shoutcasters and be displaying the best matches. To earn some extra money, they will also be selling commercial time.
So yes, CS fans will definitely dislike this change but it may be what is needed to keep the ESL alive.
Source: HLTV.org