SK Gaming published a feature weighing up potential expansion options for the CoD4 (German) scene including dwindling support for Counter Strike Source (CSS), German organisations such as Mousesports recruiting a team but eventually culminated in the game becoming a full title in the ESL Pro Series (EPS).

After the company made a somewhat cryptic press conference announcement two weeks ago at the Pro Series XII LAN finals in Cologne, Germany - it's understood that the ESL plans to introduce CoD4 as one of the two team based first-person shooters in the United Kingdom (UK) next season.

The German Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (USK) board granted Call of Duty 4 an 18+ age rating on all six versions of the game, making it unsuitable for the ESL to use. Though the ESL has yet to announce it officially, they held a meeting yesterday to discuss the possibly and an inside source commented, “the reason why we get so much sponsorship is because of the events and TV coverage we offer; the basis of the Pro Series is the offline events”, stating that “unless Activision or Infinity Ward decide to resubmit a reduced gore version, CoD4 can't be an EPS game in Germany.”

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) gave the game an age rating of 15 and CoD4 will replace Counter Strike 1.6, leaving CSS alongside CoD4 in the EPS. The move was a combination of CoD4's rapid increase in popularity as well as the declining competitiveness of the UK 1.6' community. The season will commence around September and the ESL is currently exploring suitable staff for the position(s).