 teams from promoting skin gambling and case opening sites.){kind=link}
Valve has officially banned Counter-Strike 2 teams from promoting skin gambling and case opening websites on jerseys at official events.
Additionally, unranked events will now have to align with ranked tournaments and refrain from featuring any logos, promotions, or advertisements for CS2 case opening sites, skin trading sites, or skin gambling sites.
The changes were made roughly two days ago when Valve updated its Tournament Operation Requirements (TOR) and revised the Limited Game Tournament License to further restrict how companies use its IP.
Under the updated TOR and Limited Game Tournament License, tournament organizers can no longer showcase or promote the following in official streams:
- Skin gambling websites
- Skin trading websites
- Case opening websites
- Any content or material violating Valve IP or the terms of the Steam Subscriber Agreement
Needless to say, the move has raised significant concerns about its impact on the broader competitive ecosystem. Several teams already have existing sponsorship deals with skin sites, and those partnerships play a major role in sustaining Tier 2 and Tier 3 teams, as well as smaller tournament organizers.
It seems that CS2 teams may have had prior warning regarding this change, as many teams had already removed skin gambling sponsorships from their jerseys ahead of the StarLadder Budapest Major.