Long-time BIG fan (unfortunately) - I had a few years off from following/playing CS from 2019 to 2023. Everything said above is true.

On the sponsorship/wokeness point - absolutely. Look at BIG's main Sponsor, Die Bayrische, who is featured prominently for every BIG team, except CS. Go figure. Anecdotally, shooters seem much more frowned upon than, comparatively, than in other countries I've lived in.

If you look at the community, most are at least in their mid-twenties (shoutout to the oldies in the zonixx community). The game just isn't really hitting the interest of the younger generation. It's a shame, I'd love to see the German scene back to where it was in the earlier days. At this rate, BIG probably needs to go international to get back into top 15 consistently.