Romanian esports production company PGL has announced a new Tier 1 Counter-Strike 2 tournament scheduled to take place in China from 14 to 26 April 2027.
The April 2027 tournament is a part of PGL’s massive $22 million investment in Counter-Strike 2 esports. In line with PGL’s approach since 2025, the entire event will be played on LAN. Online Open and Closed Qualifiers will run in the weeks before the main event to determine the remaining participants.
The event will feature a $1,000,000 prize pool and a $300,000 VRS Invite Bonus, with the world’s top teams set to compete on LAN. The $1,000,000 prize pool will be split between team winnings and a club share, which together make up each team’s total winnings. The first-place team will receive $180,000 in prize money plus a $100,000 club share, for total winnings of $280,000.
Separate from the main prize pool, PGL is offering a $300,000 VRS Invite Bonus. This bonus is distributed based on the Valve Regional Standings (VRS), with the top five ranked teams that accept their tournament invite each receiving $60,000.
If a top-five team declines its invite, the bonus is passed down to the next eligible team in the VRS rankings, continuing through the top 14 teams on the list. Should less than $200,000 of the bonus pool be distributed for this event, the remainder will roll into PGL’s Annual Viewership Incentive pool.
PGL has reiterated its conflict-of-interest policy ahead of the event. Teams and players must confirm they have no financial stake in the success of any rival team they are competing against. This includes business ties such as shared management, shared ownership, licensing agreements, or loans involving other participating teams or players.
On the visa front, PGL has confirmed that if a directly invited team accepts but is later unable to attend due to missing the visa deadline, its spot will be passed to the next eligible team under the tournament’s standard replacement rules. We’ve already seen similar situations before, like Wolves Esports missing the BLAST R6 Salt Lake City Major after their US visa applications got rejected.
PGL says China is ready to host elite Counter-Strike 2 competition. Organisers point to the country’s passionate fanbase and fast-growing esports scene as reasons the region is becoming a key destination in the tournament series. Not just PGL, another major tournament organiser, ESL FACEIT Group, announced last month that it’s partnering with the Beijing Esports Industry Development Association to bring Intel Extreme Masters Beijing 2026, a Tier 1 Counter-Strike event, to the city.
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