B8 Esports decline FISSURE Playground #1 invitation

Ukrainian organisation B8 Esports (B8) has publicly announced that it will not participate in the upcoming FISSURE Playground Counter-Strike 2 tournament.

Following survey feedback, the organisation has declined its invitation to participate in light of the companies involved with the event and their origins.

In a post online, B8 wrote: “Dear fans, thank you very much for your feedback on our survey regarding participation in FISSURE Playground #1.

“Despite the significance of competing in tier-1 tournaments within the VRS system, we have decided to decline participation in FISSURE Playground #1.”

However, there has been criticism online from some members of the community against B8 for not honouring the results of the poll it held on Telegram. As of writing, roughly 52% of votes were cast in favour of participation, with 33% against playing, and 15% okay with either option.

In the poll, B8 weighed the benefits and concerns involved with participating in FISSURE Playground #1. On one hand, B8 was thrilled to be invited to tier-1 tournaments. However, concerns were raised about the companies sponsoring and organising the event

In a rough translation of the Telegram post, B8 wrote: “Refusal to participate means a loss of points, which will lead to a significant drop in the ranking (VRS) by many positions, while our competitors, on the contrary, will gain them.

“As a result, we will lose direct invites to the next tier-1 events, and therefore, we will lose all our achievements over the past six months.”

The FISSURE Playground #1 tournament is sponsored by a Russian Bookmaker company called BetBoom, which has a branch in the currently occupied Crimea. B8 also inferred that the “origins” of the event’s tournament organiser FISSURE, a Serbian company, was another reason for not wanting to attend.

As a Ukrainian organisation, B8 was hesitant to participate due to the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

By refusing to participate, B8 will be missing out on crucial points for the Valve Ranking System, which will affect their chances at future invitations. Furthermore, they will miss out on earning a share of the $450,000 (~£353,000) prize pool on offer.

However, B8 is participating in the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025. After a strong start in Stage 1, B8 are currently competing for a spot in Stage 3, beating teams such as Team Falcons and HEROIC, but losing to Virtus.pro.

Compared to Fissure Playground #1, the Austin major boasts a much larger prize pool of $1.25m (~£980,000).