CS:GO Majors to boast a $1 million prize pools

Valve Corporation announced that it is increasing the prize pool for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championships to $1 million. The first event to benefit from this is the Major Championship in Columbus, which will be hosted by MLG this March.

This is a quadruple increase to the original prize pool of $250,000 that was set in 2013. It’s a huge step forward for Valve’s shooter, which is usually Steam’s second-most played game after esports juggernaut Dota 2. There were three Major tournaments for CS:GO last year, but so far, only one is scheduled for 2016.

“CS:GO tournaments are now among the largest esports events in the world, drawing global audiences of millions of viewers, filling massive venues, and garnering higher prize pools. Professional CS:GO has grown, and the CS:GO Major Championships are about to grow with it.” Valve said on the Counter-Strike blog.

MLG Columbus will see 16 teams compete from March 29 to April 3. $500,000 of the prize pool will go to the winner, $150,000 to the runner-up, $70,000 each to the third and fourth-place finishers, $35,000 each for fifth through eighth place teams, and eighth through sixteenth finishers will take home $8,750 each. Play-off games will take place at Nationwide Arena and will be open to spectators.