Video: Players talk about new summer off-season dates

Earlier this month, the Counter-Strike Professional Players’ Association (CSPPA) announced that in 2023 the official summer tournament break would take place from June 12-July 9. The association explained that the change was made in order to split the year into two more even seasons, each lasting around five months.

It was a distinct departure from the status quo, with the break having typically run from mid-July to mid-August in previous years, and it was met with disagreement and confusion from many in the pro community, some of whom said that they had had no indication that the change was even going to be made.

We had the chance to bring up the issue with several teams and players while at IEM Cologne, asking them about their thoughts about the new dates for the upcoming year.

Players such as Håvard “⁠rain⁠” Nygaard, Mareks “⁠YEKINDAR⁠” Gaļinskis, and Andrei “⁠arT⁠” Piovezan talked to HLTV.org on the topic in the video that you can watch above or on our YouTube channel, where you can also browse more videos such as player highlights, episodes of the HLTV Confirmed podcast, the HLTV Peek news show, the Counter-Quiz, and more.