Full Version: Valve’s Charter for Licensed Tournament Operations Starting 2025

Today, Valve has released the full version of its charter for licensed tournament operations starting from 2025. Below are the complete rules.

Preamble

The best Counter-Strike (CS) is played in a fair environment where skill is the only limitation to success. We believe CS should be an open sport. Therefore, we are introducing new requirements for hosting major competitive events as detailed below.

In short, these rules limit organizers’ power to directly invite teams to participate, enforce transparency in prize pools, and define the types of tournaments that will be considered in our official ranking system. If you are interested in hosting a CS event, you will need a license issued by Valve. In many cases, the Limited Game Tournament License (https://store.steampowered.com/tourney/limited_license) will cover your event. However, if your event exceeds the scope of a limited license, you must contact Valve to obtain a broader license.

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Tournament Operation Requirements

The following rules apply to all new versions of CS tournaments ending after December 31, 2024:

1. Definitions

1.1 Announcement Date: The date the tournament is announced to the community.

1.2 VRS Direct Invites: Refers to the process defined in section 3.1.1 for selecting rosters for advancement.

1.3 Invitation Date: The date invitations are sent out to the roster of invited teams for a particular tournament.

1.4 Main Event: Refers to the portion of any tournament held after the conclusion of any open or closed qualifiers.

1.5 Open Qualifiers: Refers to the method of selecting rosters for advancement defined in section 3.1.2.

1.6 Roster: Any list selected based on the procedures defined herein to appear in the main event of a specific tournament.

1.7 Squad: A collection of five specific players, regardless of their current or future association with a particular team or club.

1.8 Valve Regional Standings (VRS): The official team ranking system published by Valve, as of the monthly calculated version, and used as the basis for VRS direct invites.

1.9 Ranking Tournaments: Tournaments whose results are used to calculate the VRS.

1.10 Non-Ranking Tournaments: Tournaments whose results are not used to calculate the VRS.

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2. Non-Ranking Tournament Regulations

If an organizer defines a tournament as non-ranking, the following rules apply:

• The organizer must adhere to the terms of the “Limited Game Tournament License” (https://store.steampowered.com/tourney/limited_license).

• The organizer may decide to directly invite rosters or select them through any other qualifying process at their discretion.

• The total compensation (including prize pool and any other form of compensation) for a single non-ranking tournament shall not exceed $100,000. If an organizer hosts more than one non-ranking tournament in a year, the total compensation for all non-ranking tournaments shall not exceed $250,000.

3. Ranking Tournament Regulations

For ranking tournaments, in addition to the terms of the Limited Game Tournament License (https://store.steampowered.com/tourney/limited_license) or any applicable dedicated license, the organizer must also adhere to the following additional regulations:

3.1 Advancement and Invitation Procedures

3.1.1 Valve Regional Standings Direct Invites: The VRS direct invite process is as follows:

a) The organizer shall determine the advancement tier (T1 tournaments starting from first place, T2 tournaments from ninth place) and the number of teams that will appear in the main event, and this information shall be published on the announcement date.

b) On the “invitation date,” the organizer will invite a certain number of teams, equal to 1.5 times the number of teams participating in the main event, in order of their advancement ranking. If the invitation date falls within the last week of the month, the organizer will use the VRS of the 1st of that month to determine the advancement ranking. Otherwise, the organizer will use the VRS of the 1st of the previous month. For Tier 1 events, invitations must be based on the global VRS officially provided by Valve or its sub-tables. For Tier 2 events, the organizer may apply additional screening processes as long as they do not target specific teams or rosters. Filtering by country or gender is allowed.

Example: If the organizer wishes to use VRS direct invites for a tournament with 16 teams in the main event, the organizer will send invitations to 24 teams ranked 9th to 32nd in Europe.

c) A roster can only be invited to participate in a tournament based on the VRS direct invite if at least three players in the participating roster were simultaneously present on both the invitation date and the roster list. If a team is unable to participate for any reason, automatic replacements will fill all vacancies.

d) The organizer may allow the highest-ranking invited teams to directly advance to the main event, up to half of the main event slots. All remaining slots in the main event must be determined by separate qualifiers (“closed qualifiers”).

Example: An organizer hosting a main event with 16 teams would thus invite 24 teams. Eight teams would directly advance to the main event, while the remaining 16 teams would participate in the closed qualifiers, with eight spots advancing to the main event.

3.1.2 Open Qualifier. For open qualifiers, the organizer may use any reasonable, transparent, and non-targeted standard for individual rosters or competing teams. Acceptable standards include demographics and regions (e.g., “Canadian female rosters”).

3.1.3 Wildcard Team Invitations. The following additional wildcard tournament procedures are permitted: in any tournament where there are 8 or more teams participating as part of the main event, the organizer may choose to directly invite 2 teams. For every additional 8 rosters in the main event, the organizer may add 2 more wildcard invited teams. Wildcard invited teams may be invited to participate in the closed qualifiers but cannot directly enter the main event. For seeding purposes, wildcard teams are considered the lowest-placed teams in the advancement standings. Only rosters meeting at least one of the following criteria are eligible for wildcard invitations:

• At least 3 players have been members of a top 8 VRS team at any time in the previous 12 months.

• Have won any Tier 1 title within the 12 months prior to announcing the wildcard invitations.

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3.2 Tournament Tiers

3.2.1 Tier 1 Tournament (T1 Tournament): If the organizer defines a tournament as a Tier 1 tournament, the following regulations apply:

a) The tournament must be a VRS direct invite tournament and must follow special rules that take precedence over those in section 3.1.1 above:

• The list of invited teams must start with the team that was eligible for first place (i.e., the first place team) on the invitation date. The organizer may decide to supplement with open qualifiers.

• The VRS direct invite procedure must extend to at least 16 teams and provide at least 8 rosters for the main event.

• The organizer may choose to additionally invite any teams that have won Tier 2 tournaments in the past 6 months to the closed qualifiers.

Example: If the organizer wishes to host a Tier 1 tournament with eight teams in the main event, the organizer must invite 16 teams. The organizer may also invite four teams that have won recent Tier 2 tournaments (totaling 20 invited teams). The organizer allows the top four teams to directly enter the main event. The other 4 spots in the main event are determined by a closed qualifier involving the remaining 16 teams.

3.2.2 Tier 2 Tournament: If the organizer defines a tournament as a Tier 2 tournament, the following regulations apply:

a) The organizer may choose whether the eligibility of teams to participate in the tournament should be based on VRS direct invites (3.1.1), open qualifiers (3.1.2), or a combination of both.

b) If the organizer decides to use VRS direct invites, the eligibility ranking of invited teams shall not be higher than ninth place.

3.2.3 Wildcard Tournament. For every three Tier 1 tournaments hosted, the organizer may host a wildcard tournament. If the organizer defines a tournament as a wildcard tournament, the following rules apply:

a) Wildcard tournaments may have an unlimited number of wildcard invitations and have no minimum number of teams participating in the main event. The organizer may allow wildcard teams to directly enter the main event.

b) The organizer must designate the tournaments associated with the wildcard tournament. Wildcard invitations must comply with the same VRS screening criteria applicable to the corresponding tournament.

c) The organizer may elect to increase the number of advancing teams according to the guidelines for Tier 1 tournaments.

Example: The organizer hosted two world Tier 1 tournaments, one Asian Tier 1 tournament, and one American Tier 1 tournament. Thus, every four wildcard teams must be configured in the ratio of two world wildcards, one Asian wildcard, and one American wildcard.

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4. Publicizing Tournament Information

4.1 Announcement Date. For Tier 1 tournaments and wildcard tournaments, the following rules apply:

• For tournaments beginning between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2025, the announcement date shall not be later than September 1, 2024.

• For tournaments beginning between January 1, 2026, and December 31, 2026, the announcement date shall not be later than January 1, 2025.

• For tournaments beginning after December 31, 2026, the announcement date must be at least 24 months before the start of the main event stage.

For Tier 2 tournaments, the announcement date must be at least 3 months before the start of the main event stage.

4.2 Basic Information. For all types of tournaments, the organizer must at least announce the date of the tournament and the identity of the organizer.

4.3 Supplementary Information. The organizer must announce the following additional information within 12 months before the main event of Tier 1 tournaments and wildcard tournaments, and within 3 months before the main event of Tier 2 tournaments:

• The number of teams receiving VRS direct invites and/or wildcard invitations (if any).

• Location.

• Whether open qualifiers are part of the tournament, and if so, the rules for open qualifiers.

• Whether the advancement matches and/or main event are online or offline.

• Definition of the VRS screening procedure (if any) upon which VRS direct invites are based.

• The advancement ranking from which the organizer begins inviting.

• Prize pool and its distribution rules.

• If the organizer provides any other form of support to participating teams, rosters, or players (such as appearance fees, sponsor revenue shares, or media rights), the organizer must publish comprehensive information about all such support.

5. Competition / Integrity

5.1 Non-Exclusivity. The organizer commits not to enter into direct or indirect agreements with players or teams that artificially restrict players or teams from participating in third-party tournaments. Organizers may restrict teams or rosters from participating in third-party tournaments when (a) the affected team or roster is on-site at the physical location of the tournament, including days without matches, or (b) the affected player is participating in an online match of the tournament.

5.2 Non-Discrimination. Any agreement between the organizer and participating teams or players must be non-discriminatory and apply equally to all participating teams or players. Specifically, if the organizer is sharing revenue or otherwise providing financial support, such support must be equivalent for all teams or determined by objective Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that are equally applicable to all teams, including rosters that were directly invited, qualified, or determined through wildcard invitations before the roster is finalized. This support must be available to all participating teams and determined by the team’s performance in the tournament, another objective, performance-based LPI related to the tournament (such as the number of viewers for matches involving respective teams, rosters, or players), or the VRS ranking of the roster on the invitation date.

5.3 Potential Conflicts of Interest. Unless approved by Valve, the organizer and tournament staff may not have any commercial relationship with any participating team or player, including but not limited to shared management, shared legal ownership, licensing, and loans, whether or not related to Valve competitions (each “Interest Relationship”). If (a) disclosed to Valve in writing, and (b) Valve does not object within 90 days of disclosure, it shall be deemed approved. However, the 90-day countdown is triggered only by disclosures made after the effective date of the agreement.

Valve reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to (a) require the organizer to address and resolve the conflict within a reasonable period not exceeding two weeks, or (b) terminate the agreement, with Valve being free of any cost or penalty.

The express or implied approval by Valve shall be valid for one year from the date Valve receives the information, unless Valve explicitly states otherwise when granting approval. Thereafter, the approval term will automatically renew at the same time as the initial approval, until terminated.