Competitive gaming was shaken today with the collapse of one of its major organisation, the Championship Gaming Series. The series was a joint venture between satellite TV operators BSkyB, STAR TV and DirecTV and was the first 'esports' enterprise with television coverage. With the CGS's demise and the end of the Cyberathletic Professional League (CPL) in 2007, the console-only Major League Gaming is left as the only important gaming league in the United States.

While the concept was ahead of its time and we are extremely proud of what we’ve accomplished, it became increasingly clear as this ambitious project evolved, that profitability was too far in the future for us to sustain operations in the interim.

Controversial in the tournament gaming scene, CGS began by raiding the US Counter-Strike 1.6 scene for many of its players. It then contracted its new talent to league owned franchises based on the American pro sports model. This created a two year competition freeze between the CGS dominated North America and the independent club/clans based in Europe and Asia as represented by the Group of 7.

The end of the CGS also affects a number of Australian based players under contract for Sydney Underground, a franchise that competed in the CGS' 2008 Pan Asia and World tournaments. The high point for the team came this year with their top two finish at the Pan Asia championships.

The CGS was the first gaming league to broadcast onto television and was one of the first leagues to feature matches played across multiple games - in its last season teams had players for CounterStrike Source, Dead or Alive 4, Forza Motorsport 2 and Fifa 08. Previous tournaments had also included included World of Warcraft battleground competitions.