French esports organisation Gentle Mates (M8) is set to leave Counter-Strike 2 (CS2), ending a run in the game that lasted less than ten months.
The news was initially reported on June 23 by French insider Sébastien “KRL” Perez and quickly confirmed on stream by M8 Co-founder Corentin “Gotaga“ Houssein.
According to Gotaga, the core reason behind the exit is financial. Gentle Mates had previously competed in Riot Games‘ VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) but were relegated after failing to reach the playoffs, which freed a significant portion of their annual budget. The organisation then moved those resources into CS2 and publicly committed to building a long-term presence in the game.
That plan changed on September 7, Houssein’s birthday, when rival organisation KOI was removed from the VCT league and Gentle Mates were offered a spot back into it. By that point, M8 had already streamed their first CS2 match and launched the project publicly. The organisation nonetheless chose to accept the VALORANT offer, which meant the budget previously earmarked for Counter-Strike would now be redirected there instead.
That redirected budget is not a small figure. Houssein stated on stream that the sum in question is not in the range of hundreds of thousands of Euros, but between one and three million Euros.
For a self-financed organisation that is only three years old and operates without external investor backing, that figure is described as decisive. Houssein was clear that a gap of that size between what the CS roster costs and what the organisation can now allocate to it makes the project mathematically unsustainable, regardless of ambition.
Beyond the VALORANT opportunity, Houssein mentioned having difficulties of attracting sponsors in the Counter-Strike ecosystem, the high cost of maintaining a competitive roster, and the way that cost was limiting the organisation’s ability to invest across other titles.
With between one and three million euros tied up in a CS2 project that lacked the sponsor infrastructure to offset those costs, Gentle Mates found themselves unable to grow elsewhere. Removing that financial burden, Houssein argued, allows the organisation to strengthen its overall structure even at the cost of short-term reputational damage from walking away.
The Spanish roster is not being released to free agency. Gentle Mates is seeking to sell the lineup as a package, keeping the core together under a new organisation. Spanish clubs Heretics, KOI (Movistar KOI), and GiantX have been linked by KRL as potential buyers, a logical fit given the roster’s nationality.
The organisation entered CS2 in August 2025, acquiring the Spanish roster formerly competing under Iberian Soul. The five-man lineup accumulated over $150,000 in prize winnings across events including PGL Astana 2026, ESL Pro League, and various BLAST competitions. Despite strong individual performances, the team missed qualification for the last two Majors.
The exit also reflects a structural challenge facing mid-tier organisations in CS2 more broadly. Without Major sticker revenue, reliable esports-focused sponsorship, or significant outside investment, the cost of staying competitive at the top level is difficult to keep up with, particularly for a self-funded club weighing that expenditure against opportunities in other titles.
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