First CS2 Major open qualifiers are already a logistical disaster

The first Counter-Strike 2 Major is supposed to be a landmark moment for the game after over a decade of historic CS:GO Majors, but the open qualifiers hosted by Challengermode have already run into some major snafus.

According to a growing number of posts spotted on X/Twitter, Reddit, and HLTV, the open qualifiers for EU have been beset by a wide range of major issues, including sign-up/ready-up pages not working, the anti-cheat program crashing players’ computers, long delays, and more. Exacerbating the issues appears to be a tremendous lack of administrators present to resolve the problems.

Players reported they were only getting basic replies from the admins who were present that didn’t provide any solution to the raised issues. Some of these issues included players crashing during matches due to the anti-cheat, and with admins unable to respond in a timely manner, some teams have had to play multiple rounds down four-vs-five. Several players point to PGL as being responsible, given the number of tech issues that have historically occurred at PGL events.

One of the game’s greats in Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyljev directly called out the organizers Challengermode, telling them in no uncertain terms that the “community can destroy your reputation very easy,” and that they should “hire more admins or borrow them from other platforms.”

Other top players have called out the qualifiers as well. Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen, the winner of a record five Majors, says Counter-Strike “deserves better,” calling the state of the open qualifiers sad, disappointing, “and a tad unprofessional.”

Several players have pointed to the Akros anti-cheat program as a major source of frustration and problems during the open qualifier. Many players were supposedly caught off guard today by a late update to the program last night.

Both CS2 players and fans likely hope the open qualifiers will run smoother going forward, whether that’s due to an increase in admin presence or a more drastic change like a full switch to FACEIT.