Hours-long delays, a stolen Steam account, and chaos during the broadcast—what’s happening at the XSE Pro League 2026

The first day of competition at the XSE Pro League 2026 for Counter-Strike 2 in Guangzhou, China, was marred by numerous organizational and technical issues. Viewers and participants complained about hours-long delays, equipment malfunctions, and issues with the broadcast and tournament organization. We’ve compiled all the known details.

Initially, the first matches were scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. Moscow time, but the organizers postponed the start several times due to technical issues. As a result, the first match began nearly two hours later than planned. Due to constant delays, the schedule was completely thrown off—the four opening matches, which were expected to take four hours, ended up taking more than ten hours, and the last match of the first day concluded around 3:13 a.m. local time.

The players themselves also encountered problems. BetBoom Team rifler Kirill “Magnojez” Rodnov reported that he lost access to his Steam account after logging in on one of the organizers’ computers. Later, the esports player stated that data from other users remained on the tournament PCs. BetBoom Team sniper Alexander “zorte” Zagodyrenko criticized the long waits for matches to begin on his Telegram channel, calling the tournament “ridiculous.” 

In addition, the organizers were unable to provide all teams with identical gaming stations—Ninjas in Pyjamas player Roman “n0te” Hamza had to play at a regular black table. There were also issues with the equipment: right in the middle of a match, FaZe Clan coach Niklas “enkay J” Krumhorn’s headphones broke, and the organizers were unable to fix them.

There were also serious complaints about the official broadcast of the championship on Kick. During the broadcast, viewers complained about double audio, constant notifications from messaging apps, microphone issues, and problems with the HUD. In addition, a significant portion of the chat messages consisted of automated bot replies to new subscribers, as well as political spam.

According to one tournament attendee, a user named X with the handle @PanYijingFlora, a significant portion of the on-site staff consisted of volunteers and students with no work experience. She also claims that after hours-long delays, some spectators demanded refunds for their tickets, but instead, the organizers promised compensation in the form of mouse pads. Later, she said, it turned out that these mouse pads were simply being sold at a 50% discount.

The XSE Pro League 2026 is taking place from July 1 to 12 in China. The eight strongest teams will compete in the playoffs at the sports center of South China Agricultural University. A total of sixteen teams are participating in the tournament, competing for a prize pool of $1,000,000.

Photo: XinSai Esports.