International tournament organizer BLAST announced that it has partnered with PC and gaming technology company ASUS and its gaming brand Republic of Gamers (ROG) for the reminder of the 2025 BLAST Premier Counter-Strike 2 competitive season.
Financial terms of this partnership were not disclosed.
Under the terms of the deal, ASUS will provide BLAST with the ROG Strix XG248QSG 610hz Ace Monitor to players during competitions, starting in Malta for BLAST Premier Bounty S2. The monitor will be used for subsequent competitions later this year in London and Hong Kong as well. BLAST Premier Bounty S2 – Malta will run from Aug. 5 – 17 in studio followed by arena events later this year including BLAST Premier Open S2 – London from Aug. 27 – Sept. 7, and BLAST Premier Rivals S2 – Hong Kong from Nov. 12 – 16.
In addition to being named the official monitor partner, ROG has been named the official laptop and peripheral partner for the remainder of the BLAST Premier 2025 season.
ROG claims that the XG248QSG model is the “world’s fastest TN panel, boasting an ultrafast 610Hz refresh rate for supersmooth gaming visuals.” In addition to providing monitors to BLAST Premier 2025 competitions, ROG will offer players a variety of peripherals including the new ROG Harpe II Ace and ROG Falchion Ace HFX magnetic keyboard. All of these offerings are part of the ROG Ace Esports Collection.
The BLAST Premier Bounty in Malta will feature 32 of the world’s top Counter-Strike 2 teams competing for a $500,000 USD total prize pool. The prize pool will be awarded based on seeding and individual match results, according to BLAST. Eight quarter finalists will play the second week in a LAN setting from the new BLAST Studios in Malta from Aug. 14 – 17.
ASUS’ ROG joins other BLAST sponsors and partners including Nova Wallet, BLACKLYTE, Movember, and AEG, among others.