If you weren’t outraged enough by ESL’s (not-so) ridiculous ticket prices for the Cologne Major next year, then maybe the suspension of the ESL Impact circuit will have got you riled up.

It’s understandable it would, too. After all, how can a company (which is owned by a bottomless money pit, Saudi Arabia) be citing issues regarding sustainability whilst also charging so much money for tickets? And how, after beginning the Impact scene with the tagline #GGForAll, can they close it down three years later?

I’ll be clear now, because I know that some of you reading this will need it, that was all meant to be read with just a hint of sarcasm. Just like with the Cologne tickets I think the decision to suspend the women’s circuit was a correct decision, and that you’re actually all just jumping on ESL’s back because it’s the cool thing to do, rather than looking at where else your finger should be pointing.

So where should that finger be pointed? And should you – someone who likely didn’t even watch the product – even have a right to care at all?

Well, let’s talk about that.

Oh, and just because I know there’ll be at least one person who wants this to be part of the issue: We’re not going to be talking about trans players. I don’t care if there were trans players in Impact. I don’t care if there weren’t trans players in Impact. The only people who should care are ESL and the players themselves, because that’s their prerogative.

And no, trans players didn’t contribute to the closure of Impact. Contrary to popular belief, the Saudis aren’t evil puppet masters controlling each and every move ESL makes. Crazy, I know.

So, who are we blaming?

Onto the part everyone really enjoys: blame. So, who are we going after?

Well, I know I said I won’t be blaming ESL, but is there more they could have done? Maybe. Could they have done more to market Impact? Could they have scheduled the Finals at better times? Could they have put the streams on the main account when nothing else was on?

Probably. To all three. But even then, it’s not like there was a total absence of marketing. It’s not like ESL didn’t try using the mainstream, either; the Grand Final of Season 6 went out on the main ESL stream, and it did little for the numbers - in fact, it even saw a 5,000 viewer decline in Grand Final viewership, down to 15,530 from 20,904 in Season 5. As for scheduling, Season 6 was during the Shanghai RMRs, but there was no direct overlap; it might be a valid criticism for Season 8, though, the Finals are set to take place during Stage 2 of the StarLadder Budapest Major.

Either way, all of this is to say that I just don’t think there was actually the required level of interest in ESL as a product for them to have actually had much power in changing any of these things.

So, who could?

Well for one, I don’t see anybody criticising other TOs like BLAST or PGL for not holding women’s tournaments when they could easily do it. BLAST were absolutely thrilled to get to host Imperial Valkyries’ debut game in tier one, but an actual event just for women? Crickets.

And what about the organisations? They were all loud and proud about signing teams, but most of those jumped ship long before ESL did. I tweeted about this when the announcement went out, but take a look at some of the names in Impact Season 4: NAVI, G2, VP, ENCE. All were gone by Season 7. The same is true for Astralis and Spirit; both organizations had departed the women’s scene by Season 7.

Where is the criticism for those organisations? ESL even added club incentives for Season 7 to try and give these organisations more of a reason to support their teams, money that could be earned through either strong performances on the server, or by the creation of content and the level of engagement that content received and still – nothing.

How about Valve themselves? They’ve become much more hands-on in 2025, could they not have announced a Major for women’s CS? Riot run Game Changers in VALORANT and last year it peaked at 464,695 viewers with an average of 124,860. They also advertise Game Changers directly within VALORANT itself - but could Valve not do that, too?

It’s not the end

If you’ve gotten to this point, maybe you now agree with me that ESL wasn’t exactly wrong to bring Impact to an end. Maybe you don’t. I don’t really care. But at least you might realise that, even though it’s “cool” and “fun” to sh-t on ESL and their evil Saudi overlords, it might not always be the right thing to do.

Either way, it doesn’t matter because it’s shutting down regardless.

But that doesn’t mean it’s the end. It can’t mean that it’s the end. Mainly because too many people, both players and staff at ESL, who worked on Impact because they loved the product, have put too many hours into making it something that mattered.

Maybe it didn’t matter to you, maybe it didn’t matter enough to me, there’s not much we can do about that now. But something will come along, because it mattered enough to all of those people who worked on it, and to all of those players who dream of becoming the best what what they do. And when it does come along, we can make sure that we can support that project better than we supported Impact.

The skill gap is beginning to close. The teams are getting stronger. Imperial Valkyries didn’t just lose a semi-final at Season 7, they also lost a Group Stage game, too. They’ve already lost two in Season 8.

Women’s CS, despite the loss of some big organisations and now its primary circuit, is only getting stronger from a playing perspective. It just needs someone to take another punt on it, and for people to care more about watching it than they do virtue signalling.

But even if that doesn’t happen, games will continue to take place. There’s already some big figures offering to make sure it happens. It will happen because there’s passion in the women’s scene, it’s a scene that is hungry to compete and for the chance to continue to grow to a level where they can compete with the best teams in the world.

They may not have a divine right to that opportunity, but they deserve it all the same. And I for one hope that they get it.

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