PGL has officially confirmed that the PGL Astana 2026 Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) tournament, taking place from May 7–18 2026, will feature a $1.6 million prize pool — a notable increase from the $1.25 million awarded at the 2025 edition.
The announcement places the event among the highest-paying competitions in the current CS2 landscape, continuing a broader trend of growing prize money across the esport. Several organisers have announced significant prize boosts this year, pushing non-Major events to compete financially with established tier-one competitions.
Beyond CS2, PGL is also expanding its presence and pushing up prize money in Dota 2, as the company recently announced a $13 million tournament circuit over three years, allocating $1 million per event.
Prize pool escalation was once a key method for drawing media attention, teams, and sponsors to esports. While this approach had seen a decline in recent years, the return to larger purses in 2025 signals a renewed emphasis on financial incentives as a differentiating factor in an increasingly crowded tournament landscape.
The 2025 edition of PGL Astana, held at Barys Arena in Astana, Kazakhstan, concluded with consistent audience results. According to data from Esports Charts, the Grand Final between Astralis and Team Spirit drew a peak viewership of 920,009, making it the most-watched game of a tournament which accumulated a total of 21.8 million hours watched and an average audience of 260,597 viewers.
