The German EPS is known to be one of the biggest online leagues offering large amounts of prize money that can rival most large LAN events, however the upcoming winter season will face prize cuts affecting both Counter-Strike 1.6 and FIFA.

The last season of the German EPS saw the prize pool for the Counter-Strike finals come to a total of €20,000, with roughly another €20,000 given out as bonus prize money for winning league games throughout the season. For the winter season however, the finals will only receive a €12,000 prize pool, meaning that there has been a reduction of €8,000 from the previous season for the top four finishers.

Alongside these cuts this season will also see bonus prize money gained by winning games throughout the EPS season also decreasing dramatically with a reduction of another €13,000, leaving just €7,680 worth of bonuses to be gained throughout the season.

The total reduction in prize money amounts to over €21,000 for Counter-Strike alone, however the popular console game FIFA will also be affected and will receive similar cuts for the winter season despite the games popularity. It has however been stated that players invited to attend the Intel Friday Night Games will still be given payment to cover their travel expenses despite the reduction in prizes.

Other titles in the league such as Counter-Strike: Source, StarCraft 2, Trackmania and League of Legends will see little change in the total prize money from last season, and whilst this means that they may not benefit from other games being cut, it also means that they will not be losing out on any substantial prizes compared to the previous season. The prize breakdown for the top four finishers of the winter season in CS 1.6 can be found below.

CS 1.6 Prize Breakdown:

€6,000
€3,000
€1,800
4th €1,200