Counter Strike 2: Vitality will not participate in the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Beijing..

French Counter Strike 2 (CS2) esports powerhouse Vitality announced on Friday via their official X (Twitter) account that the team will not participate in the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Beijing.

According to Vitality's official statement, while expanding their brand awareness and overseas market by competing in a new country they don't frequently visit is important, the players' human rights are also paramount.

Due to apEX and mezii being on paternity leave, the club regretfully had to withdraw from IEM Beijing and wanted to take this opportunity to apologize to all their enthusiastic Chinese fans.

Vitality also announced that they will adjust their schedule to ensure they can participate in tournaments where they can field their original roster, accumulating as many VRS points as possible to ensure their hopes of winning the PGL Singapore Major remain unaffected.

In fact, this is not the first time the two have missed a tournament. Previously, they also missed the BLAST Open Porto and the PGL Bucharest Major for the same reason.

At the time, Vitality announced that former NAVI ace lurker jL would stand-in for mezii.

Vitality's recent loss to B8 in the Esport World Cup caused their VRS ranking to plummet, dropping them out of the top four globally.

Image source: Internet / HLTV