More Than 60 CS:GO Pro Players Retire from the Game in 2020

More than 60 professional CS:GO players retired this year. Players from multiple regions have either decided to stop playing CS:GO professionally or switched to the Riot Games’ new shooter Valorant.

More Than 60 CS:GO Pros Retire in 2020

2020 has proved to be a difficult year in many aspects. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact, no industry hasn’t felt the global impact. The entertainment industry wasn’t missed as well.

It is known by now that more than 60 professional CS:GO players have decided to retire this year. Despite that the tournaments changed to an online format in light of the pandemic, this still hasn’t stopped the pros who decided to retire in 2020.

According to a publication on Reddit, there are more than 60 notable players who retired this year. According to the list, 33 pros from North America, 2 professional players from South America, and 8 CS:GO pros from Europe have retired. Furthermore, 4 players from the CIS region have retired as well as 11 players from the Asian region and 5 players from Oceania. All in all, this makes 63 professional players that decided to retire this year.

If 60 professional players leaving CS:GO doesn’t sound troubling, an alternative list claims that more than 200 players have left the game in 2020. However, no specific breakdown is provided on how many of the alleged players are from the European, North American, or other regions. Furthermore, the suggested list does not specify the tiers of the players who decided to retire.

2020 Is a Difficult Year for CS:GO

Regardless if it’s 60 or 200 professional players, 2020 is undoubtedly a difficult year for CS:GO. In fact, the release of Riot Games’ Valorant earlier this year undoubtedly may have pushed some of the players to switch from CS:GO.

Another misfortune that shook the professional CS:GO scene was the reports of the “Spectator Bug” that allowed the coaches to have a “free camera” giving them a view to any location of the map during tournaments.

Once the bug was discovered and reported, the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) revealed that it launched a massive investigation going through demos as far back as in 2016. Consequently, in late September, ESIC announced that it banned 34 CS:GO coaches over use of the exploit.