Big orgs move into women’s CS

Women’s CS:GO is finally getting the post-COVID boost it’s been begging for.

In the before times, when we could all safely go eat a taco without worrying it would kill us (unless it was from Taco Bell), the women’s scene coasted by on tournaments running alongside popular male tournaments.

This week, both NiP and Astralis announced that they’ve signed female CS:GO rosters, just in time for ESL Impact, ESL’s all-woman tournament, to begin its second season.

Season one contained a few big names, with organizations like NAVI and Nigma (of dota2 acclaim) but season 2 promises to have more teams that the average fan has heard of.

That isn’t just good in terms of publicity and money. Fans of a team like Astralis are more likely to watch for a team named Astralis, no matter who’s on it.

Six of the eight European teams are under banners that you’ve probably heard of, which is almost better than what can be said of some of the Pro League groups.

While this roster news for the Ninjas will likely be overshadowed by their primary roster’s changes (go Aleksib, read on) it’s exciting to see more big brand organizations entering this space.

And, in true Astralis fashion, they started their season with an 0-2 loss to BIG EQUIPA.

Looks like they’re fitting in already.