On www.thecpl.com it was announced: the Cyberathlete Professional League ceases operation. The once great organisation with the most prestigious tournaments in both Counter-Strike and Quake 3, has been in a downward spiral since its 2005 Painkiller World Tour. The only reason I make note of this is not because it’s a big gaming company going down, but because this company got me into e-sports, competitive gaming, through its Counter-Strike championships.

Its demise in my opinion was caused by the lack of focus and community backing, pulling CS and Q3 made for an opening in the international circuit, one that ESWC and WCG were happy to fill by basing their tournaments on community attention. The CPL went down because they went from being a organisation of gamers for gamers to one that tried to dictate an upcoming sport. Not a big loss for the current gaming scene, but there is still some sentiment involved.