PARIVISION CEO Says Cologne Sticker Revenue Was Three Times Less Than Budapest

A Revenue Gap That Shocked the Organization

PARIVISION CEO Andrii “Kimi” Kvasnevskyi did not mince words when discussing his team’s financial return from the Cologne Major. In a season recap video posted by the organization, Kvasnevskyi said the new sticker system “hurt us a lot financially” and that the numbers were nowhere near what the team expected.

“We got three times more from the first stage in Budapest than what we got for the third stage in Cologne,” he said, according to HLTV. “The Major is a massive opportunity for the marketing team; the Major results let everyone down.”

That comparison is worth sitting with for a moment. Stage 1 of a Major, where teams are still fighting for their tournament lives and fan investment is still warming up, outpaced Stage 3, the playoff rounds where stakes are highest and viewership typically peaks. That is not a small gap. That is the system working against the teams it is supposed to reward.

What Changed Between Budapest and Cologne

The context here matters. HLTV had already reported in July that sticker sales from the Cologne Major were almost five times lower overall than those from the StarLadder Budapest Major. Following that steep drop-off, Valve released a new batch of ranked stickers using static pricing, a departure from the dynamic pricing model that had been in place for the initial release.

The dynamic pricing system, where sticker prices fluctuate based on demand, had apparently been far more lucrative for organizations. The shift to flat pricing coincided with a significant drop in total revenue flowing back to teams through sticker sales, at least based on what Kvasnevskyi has shared publicly.

PARIVISION is not a small-time organization. They are backed by a betting brand and currently field a CS2 roster that includes Evgenii “FL1T” Lebedev, Dzhami “Jame” Ali, Vladislav “xiELO” Lysov, Ivan “zweih” Gogin, Vyacheslav “slaxejezzz” Vinokurov, and Dastan “dastan” Akbayev. That is a legitimate roster with name recognition across the community. The fact that their CEO is publicly flagging sticker revenue as a meaningful financial concern says something about how much weight those Major cycles carry for mid-tier organizations.

The Broader Picture for Teams

For most CS2 organizations, a Major appearance represents one of the few reliable moments in the calendar where passive revenue can come in at scale. Sticker sales tied to team capsules have historically been a meaningful income stream, particularly for teams without the kind of sponsorship portfolios that top-tier orgs can command. When that stream dries up, it does not just affect the bottom line in a spreadsheet. It affects what a team can invest in its roster, its staff, and its infrastructure going forward.

Kvasnevskyi’s comments add a human-scale voice to what HLTV had already documented at the macro level. The overall numbers were bad. For PARIVISION specifically, the comparison between Budapest Stage 1 earnings and Cologne Stage 3 earnings illustrates just how steep the fall was. Stage 3 at a Major should be the most financially rewarding moment. Getting three times less than an earlier stage at a different tournament suggests the new system is not distributing value the way teams anticipated or hoped.

Valve has not publicly responded to the team-side concerns as of this writing. Whether the static pricing model is adjusted before the next Major cycle remains to be seen, but Kvasnevskyi’s willingness to put concrete numbers to the frustration gives the broader conversation a much sharper edge.