RMR’s for Shanghai Major 2024 to take place offline in China

Chinese tournament operator Perfect World has revealed that all RMRs (Regional Major Rankings) for the Counter-Strike 2 Shanghai Major will take place offline in China.

Regional qualifiers will take place through August before RMRs are held in November ahead of the Major’s kickoff at the end of the month.

The regional qualifiers will begin on August 21st and end on August 30th. This will be followed up by the offline RMRs starting November 11th and finishing November 24th. The Shanghai Major itself will then run in three stages: the opening stage (November 30th to December 3rd), the elimination stage (December 5th – 8th) and the playoffs (December 12th – 15th).

Regions with closed qualifiers are expected to see teams invited only on Valve’s regional standings, a table calculated using an algorithm that analyses the performance of potential Major participants. Some of the factors include prize money garnered, opponents that teams have beaten and head-to-head results.

The lack of open qualifiers in Europe and the Americas has not gone down well within the Counter-Strike community. Figures have pointed to previous underdogs who have made it through open qualifiers to qualify for Majors via fairytale runs. This includes Danish organisation ECSTATIC which reached the Copenhagen Major earlier this year by playing more than 20 matches to reach the event.

UK-based esports organisation Viperio has started a petition requesting that developer and publisher Valve ensure that open qualifiers remain. Viperio Co-Owner Brodie Mulvaney noted: “Teams, players, and fans, will no longer be able to witness teams make miracle runs to qualify for a major. These storylines are what make Counter-Strike the best game on Earth, and by removing them, we are changing the fabric of this game’s history forever.”