CS:GO team Astralis are one of the best in the world, amassing a huge amount of success last year in particular, but it turns out they're parting ways with Rfrsh Entertainment, as reported by HLTV and confirmed by Rfrsh's Nikolaj Nyholm on Twitter.
"We're proud of the sports performance model and infrastructure we brought to Astralis (and Origen). Now it is time for the teams to stand on their own legs," he wrote. "Astralis is profitable and Origen among the three best League teams in the West, easily top brands for the next 50+ years."
Dexerto also claims to have obtained an internal Rfrsh email sent around the company before HLTV's report, and signed by Nyholm.
"We must also recognize that the promise we gave two years ago - to, after a build-up phase, separate ownership of competition and team - is about ripe. The Astralis players have, as you all know, felt this on their social media streams and I have no doubt that it has affected them since Miami," the email reads, adding that the decision was reached after Astralis renewed their contracts until 2021.
This deal "also means that we have started the first conversations with interested investors to acquire the majority shareholding of Astralis currently held by those also involved in Blast, thus completing our committed separation at a shareholder level as well."
Lastly, there's also talk of the possible development of a league next year as well, although we don't know if Rfrsh plans on running this alongside the Blast Pro Series or instead of it.
Are you sad to see this split take place?