It’s official— another CS:GO pro is making the jump over to Riot’s hot new FPS.
Joshua “steel” Nissan, a long-time CS: GO professional player, will be bidding goodbye to Counter Strike: Global offensive to pursue a career in pro Valorant.
Confirmed announcement
The announcement has been confirmed as Chaos Esports officially parted ways with steel on Twitter, who they say is taking a full career shift from professional CS:GO to Valorant full-time streaming.
“Coming off of our recent success, Josh “steel” Nissan will be transitioning to streaming full-time as a content creator focused on Valorant within the organization,”
“In his time with us Josh has helped build something special with our CS:GO roster, and we want to honor his wishes to let him take time to figure out what is next for him in his competitive career.”
Fans of the organization need not to worry, though. Chaos Esports promised that they would have an announcement in early September regarding steel’s replacement on the team.
There was some fan speculation about where steel could be headed to play pro Valorant; if he’d join other professional eSports groups, but it seems he’s sticking with Chaos as of writing.
Active since 2009
Steel has been active in the professional gaming scene since 2009, as he played for teams Dignitas, Ghost, and Chaos – which is his current affiliated eSports organization.
Back in 2015, steel and his teammates on iBuyPower were handed a ban from any Valve-sponsored events after their involvement in the North American match-fixing scandal was proven to be true.
Jarek “Dekay” Lewis of DBLTAP said that “multiple sources with knowledge of his decision” confirmed that steel is indeed set to retire the professional CS:GO and Chaos to shift over to Valorant.
Various reports, speculation
There have been numerous reports in the past regarding steel’s retirement from CS:GO, although the date wasn’t exactly specified when.
Reports also claim that Mexican pro player Edgar “MarKE” Maldonado will be brought in as steel’s replacement on the Chaos team after his retirement, but it’s not specified yet when will the new addition be confirmed or announced.
Steel joined the Chaos team in November 2019, as he returned to the CS:GO scene in 2017 after being unbanned from ESL events following the match-fixing scandal.
The British-Canadian player led the Chaos team to some pretty decent results recently, helping them secure the semi finals berth in ESL One: Cologne North America and a first-place win in Season 34 of ESEA Premier North America earlier in 2020.
Earlier speculations suggested that steel could be joining 100 Thieves, which doesn’t have a full Valorant roster yet, or Dignitas, who have an open fifth spot and were one of steel’s past teams before in CS:GO.
Steel seems to be playing more of Valorant lately, streaming the tactical 5v5 Riot title more often than CS:GO, so it’s not a surprise to know he joins his fellow CS:GO pros in making the jump to the hyped new FPS.
