TALKESPORT

In what we could call a bizarre move by the Danish organization, k0nfig is no longer a part of North. The news comes in quickly after Kjaerbye joined the organization, quitting Astralis.

The shuffle going on in the Danish CSGO scene looks like a perfect example of ‘how not to kick player’ and  ‘how not to sign another organization.’ The similar story emerged yesterday when g1ave tweeted about his unawareness of Kjarbye quitting their team.

Astralis in need of a player, k0nfig needs an org.

K0nfig, via Twitter, shared his disappointment, the Tweet, however, has been put down.

Props to the Reddit user who shared with us the screengrab of the Tweet.

This also means that K0nfig is now a free agent, and incidentally, Astralis is looking for a player. This could be a perfect reason to avenge for the Astralis side if they are able to negotiate with K0nfig!

After their underperformance at the recent ELEAGUE Boston Major. Virtus.Pro was under the scanner of the community and critics, waiting for a roster change. Today, we have learned from the Virtus.pro’s manager, that indeed there’s something cooking in their headquarters.

The poor performance of the long-standing Polish lineup in the Boston Major has forced the management to take strict decisions. As we reported earlier of TaZ being the potential player to move out, the reports are still developing.

Last 7 days have been the hardest and toughest period during my time at @virtuspro. On the other hand, I’ve never been more excited about our future. Stay tuned! #GoGoVP

— Roman Dvoryankin (@dvoryrom) February 1, 2018

Now we’ve learned from the statement made by Roman Dvoryankin that Virtus.pro is venturing into different avenues. Seems, the management focuses on talent more than anything else.

Roman’s statement on Twitter

Last 7 days have been the hardest and toughest period during my time at @virtuspro. On the other hand, I’ve never been more excited about our future. Stay tuned! #GoGoVP

Which also means, Virtus.pro could certainly see a roster change very soon, even before the V4 Future Sports Festival, scheduled later this quarter, in March.

We just hope that the Tweet by Roman is just an emotion shared on account of their DotA 2 roster change.

The roster change of Virus.pro will put a stop to the longest standing lineup of all time. Even though CS:GO is 6 years old, players of Virtus.pro, Neo, TaZ & Pasha are playing on the same side for over a decade.

Markus Kjaerbye has confirmed his move to North in a statement he made on Twitter. The nineteen-year-old also marked this decision as ‘the hardest’ of his career.

The story of Kjaerbye in Astralis goes back almost two years ago, where he was traded with ‘cajunb.’

This was the hardest decision in my career. I decide to leave Astralis. This might come as a shock, however sometimes in life you need the courage to take a step backwards in order to move forward towards new goals. Thanks to the team, fans and staff for this unforgettable memory

— KJAERBYE (@KjaerbyeCS) February 2, 2018

This also comes as a shocker to Astralis & co. A tweet by a fellow ex-team member of Kjarbye, appears to be frustrating and confirms they were not informed about the move.

Less than 2 hours before the press conference, we found out Kjaerbye has signed with North. Speechless. And more motivated than ever!

— Lukas Rossander (@gla1ve_csgo) February 2, 2018

Astralis did have a lot of success with Kjaerbye by their side. North’s lineup, now looks like:

• MSL
• aizy
• valde
• mertz
• Kjaerbye
• cajunB
• ave (coach)

ALSO READ: Top 12 Hottest CS:GO Professionals

BLAST Pro Series is back for this year, scheduled at Istanbul. The event, which had its inaugural last year in Copenhagen has opened its door for another year.

Likely to the previous event, it will feature 6 invited teams, out of which Space Soldiers has been determined as of now.

BLAST Pro Series Istanbul

In the last season of BLAST Pro Series, the matches, starting from groups to playoffs, all were played before the crowd.

Jordi Roig, Executive Producer at BLAST Pro Series in a statement explained the venue to be Istanbul:

“We are very excited to welcome Istanbul to BLAST Pro Series. Turkey is one of the fastest growing esports countries with more than 30 million esports enthusiasts and Turkish teams are steadily climbing to the top of the world. Istanbul was a natural choice for us and we have no doubt that it will be another record-breaking event.”

“The atmosphere at the premiere of BLAST Pro Series in Copenhagen was electrifying and the feedback we received was amazing, but already now we can say for sure, that we will bring even more world-class Counter-Strike and entertainment to Istanbul. We are thrilled about the event already and look much forward to presenting the line-up and full program for the first of many international stops in BLAST Pro Series.”

Five teams are yet to be invited, details of which will be announced soon. There has also not been any information yet on the timings, dates, prize pool and the schedules of the event.

Three Japanese esports associations have united as a solitary durable unit known as Japan Esports Union or JESU. Esports has for some time been a standard wellspring of diversion in adjacent nations, for example, China and South Korea.

However, it has scuffled to flourish in Japan. JESU’s agenda would be to eliminate the problems and facilitate the development of the sport in the country.

Japan Esports Union

The Japan Esports Union is a conglomerate of Japan e-Sports Association, Japan eSports Federation, and Esports Promotion Organization. The new entity JESU will be responsible for the promotion and development of esports in the country.

Hideki Okamura, the Representative Director of JESU said: “The global audience for esports is set to reach 300 million people by 2019, and 500 million by 2020. That is no different from real-life sports. Esports is mainly popular in Asia and in the U.S., and there is also hope in Japan to popularize esports. We will look to promote the industry and raise esports’ social status in Japan.”

Japan has been not into the steady growth rate due to the strict norms the Government has in place. The limitation for cash prizes is up to 100,000 yen which amounts to only $900. The norms follow “Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations.”

JESU, which aims to be regulated by the Confederation of Government will issue licenses to the professional gamers. Wherefrom, the tournament organizations will also be able to raise the prize pools attracting the gamers and sponsors.

Jess Cliffe, the co-creator of Valve’s popular online shooter series Counter-Strike, was booked into a Seattle jail. On Thursday morning he was arrested over allegations of sexual exploitation of a child.

Seattle ABC affiliate KIRO-7 broke the story on Thursday after discovering Cliffe’s booking record into King County jail. Seattle police detective Patrick Michaud confirmed to Ars that Cliffe was arrested at the jail itself, which public records show happened at 1:17 am Pacific Time, and that no charges had yet been filed.

KIRO pointed out, according to its sources at the King County Prosecutor’s office, that a booking over such charges “typically indicates” the creation of child porn. The station attempted to interview Cliffe’s girlfriend at the couple’s home in West Seattle; she asked questions about the charges and otherwise offered no comment. Though Cliffe does not have a criminal history, public records confirm that Cliffe pled not guilty to assault charges in 2013 and that those charges were dismissed later that year by a King County court.

Valve took stern action

Valve has suspended Cliffe, the company told Kotaku. “We are still learning details of what actually happened,” Valve said. “Reports suggest he has been arrested for a felony offense. As such, we have suspended his employment until we know more.”

The 36-year-old game developer was hired by Valve shortly after he and series co-creator Minh Le began working on the game in 1999, originally a “mod” based on the Half-Life game and its Source rendering engine its fork of the original Quake engine. The game quickly became popular as an online, team-based shooter with a stress on military precision and team tactics.

“We are still learning details of what actually happened,” Valve said to Ars in a statement. “Reports suggest he has been arrested for a felony offense. As such, we have suspended his employment until we know more.”

Inbetween March 23-25 this year, ESL will bring V4 Future Sports Festival. The event will be hosted in Budapest, Hungary and features prize pool of $600,000. Four of the eight teams in the fixtures are invited, names of which have already been derived.

V4 Future Sports Festival

On the basis of the nationality of players, four countries in the region which includes, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary & Czech Republic, have been invited. And the remaining four slots will be offered to teams who wish to participate through national qualifiers.

The invited teams are FaZe, mousesports, Virtus.pro, HellRaisers.

The prize pool distribution of V4 Future Sports Festival looks like:

• $240,000
• $120,000
• $60,000 (3rd & 4th)
• $30,000 (5th to 8th)

It is unclear if the teams have already confirmed their participation, but as per the ESL website, it states they have already invited the teams.

ALSO READ: IEM Sydney with $250,000

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