This editorial is of the expressed opinion of its author and not a reflection of GotFrag or MLG.

(GotFrag) - In case you missed it, the sh*t just hit the fan for the North American TF2 scene. With the Pro-Am's first season barely in the record books, the CGS has announced its imminent shutdown of all operations, leaving players, staff and fans more than a little shell-shocked. The news has a much wider and deeper impact on the peers of TF2 - namely the CS/CSS scenes as well as those pesky console games the CGS features - and leaves a whole mess of questions seemingly without answers. Will everyone still get paid? Will contractual agreements and obligations (not to mention rights to team-names) be lifted? Will the Pro-Am winners get their money? And what about the future - what will fill the awesome void CGS, with it's binding contracts and no-competition policies, has left in it's wake? Now, obviously, not all these questions apply to us here in our neat little TF2 niche, but they're still valid for any eSports fan to ponder.

Thankfully, the main question that does relate to TF2 was answered in post #18 of this thread by LANdodger: "I also wanted to STRESS that Pro-Am participants WILL get paid. I know people are wondering, but they're ABSOLUTELY going to get the money that they've already won." So, the top 6 finalists will get their money, at least (unlike some other ventures *cough* P.TV Shotgun Shootout). But, from TF2's perspective, what is the real impact of CGS' demise?

I have to admit that I turned out to be dead wrong about the Pro-Am's first season (although surprisingly close to the mark about the CGS as a whole... I'm on the wrong GotFrag page, lol) - the season was possibly the most exciting thing to happen to the NA-TF2 scene, aside from the NVISION LAN and maybe the first CEVO/TGL Tournaments. It had a wildly competitive playoff and a Grand Finals best-of-three battle that, for a wonder, actually pitted the two best teams against each other and fully delivered in the face of all that hype. And it had a $15,000 prize purse. Granted, I still was annoyed as all-hell by the "Can you hang with the Pro's?!?" banner and the ad-campaign that went with it, but whether it was the Pro-Am's doing or just the result of how much attention a prize purse will bring, the Season was indeed an exiciting thing to watch unfold. But now it's gone.

So the Pro-Am was a one-shot, no big deal, the teams still exist and we still have CEVO, right? Well, yeah, I suppose - but it's still a big step back for NA-TF2 after what ended up looking like a big step forward. Despite having arguably some of the more talented teams on this side of the ocean (oooh, the Euro's are gonna have my head for that one), the European TF2 scene has always been a stronger and more popular TF2 scene for two simple reasons: a small but steady LAN scene (Multiplay's i35 just wrapped up, btw) and a lot more leagues. Here in North America, we're back down to 1 major league that draws interest and some others (TGL, CAL, STA, TWL) that... well, they host TF2 competitive play, I'll give them that. Basically, it's back to square one for TF2ers - we're a community with a pretty great product, but no buyers. At least the Pro-Am proved that, when put to the test, TF2 can indeed be an exciting, enthralling thing to watch (we DID make djWHEAT go gaga, remember?).

One wonders what could come next - maybe a CPL BYOC tournament? ESL-NA stepping into the fray? Or MLG expanding their PC Circuit? Heck, even a GameBattles.com league/ladder would be something right now - or maybe a CEVO Pay-to-play league, though I think all online gaming leagues freak out on the legal side when you mention the notion of pay-to-play. Needless to say, whoever does come along would have an active, captive scene and audience that's just waiting to be swept off its feet, if only there was a little money out there...

- rk