ESEA Cash Cup set to be run in NA with reduced prizepool

After postponing future NA Cash Cups back in October to evaluate the future of the event in North America, a new ESEA Cash Cup, seemingly out the blue, has popped up on FACEIT's website. This new Cash Cup, which is set to run from December 2nd to December 3rd is set to be standalone like Cash Cups of the past with one notable change — a drastically reduced prizepool.

While previous NA Cash Cups have featured a $15k prizepool, this event will only have $4k on offer for teams, in line with Cash Cups run in Europe. As such, while the return of Cash Cups to North America is, of course, a boon for a region with few events to compete in, seeing the benefit of playing this Cash Cup will undoubtedly be controversial for an event series described as a "lifeline" for the NA scene.

As such, there are a number of questions lingering about this event with the radio silence from ESEA. Most important to consider is whether this $4k Cash Cups is a emblematic of what Cash Caps look like in the future for North America.

Back in October when Dust2.us spoke to ESL's Product Marketing Manager Alexander "Aluminati" Rymaszewski, he stated that ESL did not have a timeline for when Cash Cups would return and that something akin to the Cash Cup Circuit was being weighed as the future direction for Cash Cups in North America. With this standalone $4k Cash Cup clearly not being that, it may suggest that this Cash Cup is simply an interim event while ESL mull the future of the event.

Dust2.us reached out to Aluminati outside of normal business hours for comment on this event, with no reply being received by the time of publication.

Teams interested in signing up for the $4k event can do so here. While the smaller prizepool will disappoint some players, any money is better than no money, especially with the winter player break right around the corner.