BC.Game’s Counter-Strike 2 team will not take part in the upcoming BC Game Masters Championship because Valve enforced its conflict-of-interest policy on team and tournament sponsorships.
This decision shows that Valve is taking a stricter approach to competitive integrity in the CS scene, especially when it comes to financial ties between teams and event organizers.
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Valve’s Sponsorship Rules Trigger the Decision
The BC Game Masters Championship, a VRS-eligible LAN event scheduled for Bucharest, Romania, was announced on February 3 with a $50,000 prize pool.
However, the participation of BC.Game’s own esports roster quickly became a point of discussion because the betting platform serves as both the team’s title sponsor and the tournament’s branding partner.
According to Valve, this dual relationship creates an unacceptable conflict of interest.
A Valve representative explained that the company does not differentiate between title sponsorship and ownership in such cases, stating that a team’s title sponsor cannot also sponsor the tournament at any level.
Valve’s general guidelines include:
- A team’s title sponsor cannot also sponsor a tournament they compete.
- Tournament sponsors can appear on teams only in limited ways, such as jersey logos.
- Any business relationships between teams and event operators must be publicly disclosed.
Under these rules, BC.Game’s roster is barred from participating in events where BC.Game itself is a sponsor.
BC.Game Initially Frames Decision as Voluntary
At first, BC.Game’s esports account said the team would not join the event to “avoid any speculation,” and stressed that the team and tournament were run by different groups.
However, reports show that Valve’s enforcement of its conflict-of-interest rules, not a voluntary choice, led to the final decision.
Changing Standards in Counter-Strike’s Open Ecosystem
This situation shows how rules in the CS2 competitive scene are changing.
In the past, it was more common for teams to play in events run by companies with the same branding. Now, Valve’s tournament system has stricter rules.
This change also shows that the publisher wants to prevent financial ties from affecting match results or how fair the public thinks the competition is.
