BLAST will be blasting open (sorry) the typical competitive Counter-Strike formula that we have become used to. The tournament organiser has revealed its plans for the 2025 season and how it will now use a format that is significantly different.
The calendar spans three kinds of events. The Bounty events will see 32 teams competing in a gameshow-like structure where they will look to raise the bounty on their heads in an attempt to win a larger slice of the total prize pool. There will be 31 matches and 95 hours of Bounty action held for each event, with two events planned for 2025, the first being between January 12 and 26 and the second being between August 4 and 17, with both featuring online and studio elements.
The second event premise will be Open. This is the more traditional big arena events that brings together 16 teams from regions all around the world, totalling 29 matches and 89 hours of action for each tournament. The first of these will be in Lisbon between March 17 and 30 and the second will be between August 25 and September 7 in London.
Lastly, we have Rivals. This will see the best eight teams from around the world coming together to face-off against one another for 12 matches and 41 hours of action. The first of these events will be between April 28 and May 4 with the second between November 10 and 16. No location information has been shared for Rivals tournaments yet.
Lastly, BLAST has promised that on top of all of this, we can look forward to a Major being hosted in the US in Austin, Texas sometime in 2025 too. No exact date for this tournament has been outlined just yet.
Do you think this is the right direction for the future of competitive CS?
