TSM is one of the biggest esports organizations in the world, having excellent teams in games like League of Legends and Dota 2. It used to compete in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive as well, but the adventure only lasted for two years.
Now, TSM has announced its plans to try again. This is a bold move, given how difficult it is to build a world-beating roster. Especially at this time, when the game’s professional scene features at least a dozen strong teams full of superstars.
Presumably, TSM is either willing to invest a lot of money into building a formidable roster or is content with having a tier-2 CS:GO team that can participate in some of the A-tier tournaments but has few chances of qualifying for the S-tier ones. Based on the initial announcement, the second option is much more likely.
TSM FTX October Update
We'd like to share some exciting news with the fans as we near the end of 2022. pic.twitter.com/jOsy1ccPAS
— TSM FTX (@TSM) October 3, 2022
TSM’s previous adventure in CS:GO
TSM’s first attempt to succeed in CS:GO took place between 2015-2017. At the time, the game’s esports scene was only taking off, so the prize pools were quite modest. But over the last five years, a lot has changed, and right now, CS:GO is thriving. Around 20 million people play the game each month and 10-20% of them watch professional tournaments.
In turn, this translates into a lot of interest from large companies that want to advertise their services to young gamers from around the globe. So it’s understandable why TSM wants to go back.
In League of Legends, the org has one of the strongest teams in the world. In Dota 2 as well. TSM (Dota 2) finished Dota Pro Circuit in 8th place this year and will take part in The International 11, a tournament whose prize pool will be around $15 million. So why not do the same in CS:GO?
The first time when TSM created a professional team in this esport, the results were quite good, at least for the first year. They won seven tournaments and played in the Grand Final of two more. The prize pools, as was mentioned before, were not spectacular: around $40.000 per trophy. In today’s world, the figure would be more than triple. In some cases, 10 times as big.
The reason why TSM had such a huge success in its first year in CS:GO is simple: the roster was made up of the players who would form Astralis at the start of 2016. With such a talented lineup, it’s really hard to fail. But the second season was much worse, which is probably why TSM decided to quit.
Can the org do it again? We’ll find out next year.
Header: TSM
