February 13, 2026
Counter-Strike 2 tournament BC.Game Masters has announced that esports organisation BC.Game will not compete at the event.
Due to Valve‘s stance on conflicts of interest, the team won’t feature in the Tier 2 event taking place from March 24th to 26th.
On February 11th, BC.Game Masters revealed that the team, which features Oleksandr ‘s1mple‘ Kostyliev, won’t attend the LAN “to avoid speculation” surrounding any conflicts of interest between the team and the event organiser.
According to HLTV, a Valve spokesperson noted that no team is able to compete in an event where the title sponsor of a team is also sponsoring the tournament. Prior to the integration of the Valve Regional Standings (VRS), teams were allowed to do so. In recent years, BetBoom Team competed at BetBoom Dacha events without issue.
“We do not distinguish between team title sponsors and the team’s ownership, even when these are separate entities,” said a Valve representative to HLTV. As a result, BC.Game would be unable to compete at any CS2 event where the team’s owner is a sponsor.
What Next For BC.Game?
BC.Game missing out on competing at a high-profile Tier 2 tournament could hinder its chances of qualifying for the IEM Cologne Major. The top 17 teams from the European VRS will secure a place at the first Major of 2026. With BC.Game currently in 16th, the team is at risk of falling out of contention.
Despite BC.Game being at risk of losing out on a place at the Cologne Major, the team hasn’t shared any upcoming plans following its IEM Krakow 2026 campaign, where it scored a top-16 finish.
The team’s next scheduled appearance is IEM Atlanta 2026, taking place from May 11th to 17th. With the cut-off for Major invites happening on April 6th, it will be interesting to see whether BC.Game commits to other Tier 2 tournaments in a bid to keep its Major hopes alive.
Jonno is a writer for Esports Insider and has been part of the team since 2019. Over the past ten years, he’s written for several outlets including Gfinity, GGRecon, and Radio Times. As an avid sim racer, he aims to provide insight on one of the fastest growing sectors in esports.
