Mentioned in this article
League/Tournament Brands:
- The Esports Integrity Commission has welcomed Counter-Strike: Global Offensive competition BLAST Pro Series as its latest member.
- RFRSH Entertainment’s tournament series has implemented ESIC’s regulations and will hold anti-doping testing at tournaments.
- The BLAST Premier tournament series will launch in 2020 with a $4.25M USD total prize pool.
RFRSH Entertainment’s BLAST Pro Series has been named an official member of the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC), a group that works to eliminate issues such as match-fixing and doping.
According to a release, the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) tournament series operator has been working with the ESIC for almost a year now, but only now has become a member. RFRSH Entertainment has implemented ESIC’s integrity program into its player terms and conditions, and will also hold anti-doping testing at major tournaments.
“We have been working with BLAST for nearly a year to ensure competitive integrity and a clear regulatory framework for their innovative CS:GO events, and I am very pleased to formally welcome them into ESIC membership,” said ESIC Commissioner Ian Smith, in a release. “From day one, they were committed to the highest standards of regulation, and the adoption of our Anti-Corruption Code from the very first tournament was an honour for us and a signal of their intent.”
The Esports Integrity Commission—previously known as the Esports Integrity Coalition— was founded in 2016 and has partners such as ESL, DreamHack, Intel, and NODWIN Gaming.
The BLAST Pro Series has two more events in 2019: in Copenhagen on Nov. 2 and the Global Final in Bahrain on Dec. 13. In 2020, RFRSH Entertainment will launch the $4.25M BLAST Premier tournament series, which replaces the BLAST Pro Series with a larger-scale CS:GO competitive structure.
