ESL has announced that it has terminated its partnership with Evil Geniuses, which saw the CS2 team gain automatic access to many important tournaments on the ESL Pro Tour. This partnership, known as the Louvre Agreement, remains in place for plenty of other teams at the pinnacle of Counter-Strike.

Credit: Igor Bezborodov | © ESL

Evil Geniuses End ESL Partnership

The news comes amidst persistent rumors that Evil Geniuses is planning to quit esports altogether. EG has been selling its CS2 division piece-by-piece lately, with just autimatic and Walco remaining on the active roster. It seems unlikely we’ll ever see the CS2 team compete again. A few days back, Evil Geniuses sold its BLAST Partnership slot to Cloud9, adding fuel to the fire of these rumors. Now, it seems hard to deny.

According to ESL’s initial announcement, the partnership will officially end on January 1st, 2024, when Evil Geniuses will cease to be a member of the Louvre Agreement. Rather than selling their partnership to another organization, it will instead become another ESL World Ranking slot, which seems far more in the spirit of fair competition.

So – why didn’t another team purchase the slot? We can think of one reason.

Valve is killing the Louvre Agreement

Earlier this year, it was announced that Valve would be killing Partnered Leagues in Counter-Strike from 2025. This means that teams will qualify for every tournament (regardless of organizer) on merit, promoting a level playing field between competitive CS2 teams.

Credit: Valve

Any organization taking over EG’s place as a Partner Team would have to pay a pretty penny for just a year’s worth of benefits. Cloud9 had already purchased the BLAST spot, and were never going to double dip via ESL. It’s understandable that no other team has seen it as a viable investment for one year.