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Subaru launches North American Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament

By Brittany Frederick

The Subaru logo is displayed at Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.'s Gunma Yajima Plant in Ota, Gunma, Japan, on Thursday, March 30, 2017. Fuji Heavy, best known for its Subaru brand of cars, will change its name to Subaru Corp. from April 1. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The Subaru logo is displayed at Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.'s Gunma Yajima Plant in Ota, Gunma, Japan, on Thursday, March 30, 2017. Fuji Heavy, best known for its Subaru brand of cars, will change its name to Subaru Corp. from April 1. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg via Getty Images /
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Automaker Subaru is going from motorsports to eSports, as the company announced this week it will sponsor a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tourney.

Here’s some gaming news you probably didn’t expect: Subaru of America has announced that it will back a new Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament.

Per a report from PvPLive, the 2017 Subaru Invitational will take place next month. It will focus exclusively on North American CS:GO, with a lineup of eight teams invited by Subaru and partner Damage, an eSports agency.

The eight teams — which haven’t been announced yet — will compete for the biggest share of a $20,000 prize pool between May 13 and 14. Matches will be broadcast on Twitch.

Subaru and Damage are also making a $10,000 charitable donation to Anxiety Gaming, a mental health organization that focuses on helping gamers deal with anxiety and depression.

But the automaker’s motives aren’t entirely for love of eSports. PvP says Subaru is launching the CS:GO tournament as a way to promote a new car model: the 2018 Subaru Impreza, which is targeted at adults 18-34, the exact same demographic that’s plugged into competitive gaming.

Here’s the quote from Subaru marketing manager Eric Park:

"Subaru is proud to support the young enthusiasts of the eSports community through hosting our first invite-only tournament. Our goal is to build brand affinity with a highly-engaged, dedicated millennial community that shares our core values and are ready for wherever the road takes them.Millennial eSports fans have a fierce dedication to the games and its players. We understand and appreciate that kind of passion and it was an easy decision to dedicate ourselves to the eSports movement."

But even if this is just another way for Subaru to sell cars, if you’re a Counter-Strike fan it’s still encouraging to see a major brand get involved in the competitive CS:GO scene.

The 2017 Subaru Invitational should also be a nice platform for North American Counter-Strike, which has long struggled to keep up with its European counterparts.

The success of the tourney will obviously depend on what teams it can get to accept its invites. May 13 is a quick deadline just over a month away, and just days after DreamHack Tours ends in France on May 8.

A team like Misfits, which is the North American qualifier at Tours, may not want to then turn around less than a week later and play in another tournament, especially if the tournament is going to be back in the United States (which is the presumption given that it’s sponsored by Subaru of America).

It’s not yet known if fans will be able to attend the 2017 Subaru Invitational or just stream it, but we’ll keep you updated with further information as it develops.

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What do you think of Subaru getting involved with eSports? Do you think the Subaru Invitational will be a CS:GO tournament worth watching? Leave us your thoughts in the comments.