Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek has become one of the most notable streamers in relation to first-person shooters. As a result of this notoriety, he has managed to become one of the top stars onTwitch. In addition to being a streamer, he used to be one of the top professionals inCounter-Strike: GlobalOffensive. And more recently, he has dabbled in competitiveValorant. Recently, he addressed the possibility of returning to competitive Esports in the future.
During a recent live stream, Shroud gave his reasons for not wanting to compete in games competitively moving forward. The discussion arose while watchingthe Valorant Champions Tour. The streamer began the conversation by talking about the differences betweenCounter-Strike: Global OffensiveandValoranton LAN. According to the streamer,CS:GOperformed poorly online. However, he believed thatValorantfelt solid. He then speculated how much better the team-based shooter developed by Riot could feel on LAN compared to regular online play. He concluded the discussion about LAN with an intriguing statement. “You never know. Maybe it is. Maybe I’ll play one day,” he said, referring to tryingValoranton LAN.
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Unsurprisingly, this last statement from Shroud caught the attention of those participating in the watch party with him. One person quickly responded by asking the logical question, “are you coming back?” Unfortunately for those hoping to see theTwitchstreamer return to the competitive gaming scene, he shot down the idea immediately. “No,” he said confidently. After being asked his reason for not wanting to return to competitive gaming, Shroud took a moment to think before responding. “Um… too much work, and I’m lazy… I don’t know,” he said honestly.
This is an understandable answer from Shroud. As a former professional at one of the highest levels of an Esport, he obviously understands the large amount of work needed to compete. In addition,Shroud has played a lot ofNew Worldover the past few months. He acknowledged that turning professional again would prevent him from playing as much of the MMORPG. “If I was a pro, I couldn’t playNew World,and that would p**s me off,” he said. Since the game was released at the end of September, he has frequently returned to the world of Aeternum. In addition, he has often provided advice to developers on ways that he believes the game could be improved.
It will be interesting to seewhat the future holds for Shroud. While these comments seem to suggest that he won’t be competing professionally inValorantorCS:GOin the future, that doesn’t mean he won’t continue to stream first-person shooters. He still regularly playsValorantto tens of thousands of viewers, and he likely isn’t going to stop soon.
