Valve has made major changes to how sticker money will be shared in Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) Majors, starting with the ongoing IEM Cologne 2026 Major.
The company has completely changed the old sticker revenue system. Under the new format, 50% of all Major Shop and Major Pass revenue, which add to a shared Community Revenue Pool, will still be shared with tournament organisers, teams, and players, but the way that money is divided is now very different.
Valve said the revenue will now be shared based on team rankings and tournament results instead of sticker capsule sales. The revenue share system for the Major is divided as follows:
- Tournament Organiser: 5.0% (example: PGL, BLAST, ESL)
- 1st Place: 2.85%
- 2nd Place: 2.53%
- 3rd Place: 2.25%
- 4th Place: 2.25%
- 5th-8th Place: 2.00%
- 9th-11th Place: 1.78%
Valve also confirmed that for every team share, half of the money goes to the organisation while the other half is split equally between the five players. For example, if a team earns $100,000 from its team share, out of that amount $50,000 goes to the organisation itself. The other $50,000 is then split evenly between the five players. That means each player receives $10,000.
The new system is very different from the old sticker model used in previous Counter-Strike Majors. Under the old system, Valve still kept 50% of all sticker capsule revenue while the remaining 50% went directly to teams and players, however earnings depended heavily on how many sticker capsules were sold. This meant popular teams and star players usually earned much more money because their stickers sold better.
In fact, at the Paris Major 2023, some Contenders teams reportedly earned around $4.5 million per team, while players earned around $250,000 each.
Basically, the old system rewarded teams mostly based on popularity and fan hype. Valve’s new system changes that by moving away from capsule sales and putting more focus on rankings and tournament results, so now a team’s performance will directly impact how much players earn from sticker money.
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