Shroud shocked his entire fandom when he recently revealed he won’t play professionally, ever again.
He further delved into why fans won’t see him go pro in Valorant (despite an earlier April fools prank), or in any game.
‘Pro’ roots
Before the big-shot gamer found fame and success in streaming, Michael ‘shroud‘ Grzesiek was considerably one of the most talented pro gamers in the esports scene.
A former Counter-Strike pro, he competed at the biggest tournaments for over 5 years— in which he won an ESL Pro League title.
It seems as if whatever game he tries, shroud ends up being naturally good at it.
Although he was inactive in the pro scene during recent years, many wondered if he’ll try to turn pro on Riot Games’ Valorant, the hyped 5v5 tactical shooter game.
The streamer announced his ‘desire’ to go pro in Valorant back in April:
— Michael Grzesiek (@shroud) April 1, 2020
“Broys, I’m going pro in Valorant.”
“I’ve missed the competitive edge and I finally have a game that I know I can be best at. I want to win world championships and celebrate with you, my fans.”
Fans earlier debated whether it was an official announcement or merely just an April Fools prank, but now it seems to be the latter.
Goodbye, pro scene?
In a recent stream, the Mixer star revealed he doesn’t have any plans to go back into the world of esports again.
The main reason being? He wants to devote most of his time on streaming instead.
“You’re not going to see me go pro ever again. We’re past that.”
He further explained how he won’t be able to stream anymore, should he decide to play pro:
“Here’s what you guys don’t understand about going professional and playing a game at the top level. If you truly want to play at the top, you can not stream your practice, that’s just an easy way for people to creep on your strategy.”
Streaming in itself is already a draining activity for many content creators.
It’s not uncommon for the majority to take a step back from their streaming-related endeavors, if it means they can go back with a fresh mindset.
Juggling both playing professionally and streaming is a rather tedious task, and shroud— a pro player of the highest caliber, was unsure if he could balance it both.
“So granted as much fun as playing a game professionally is, I can’t stream it at the same time, so basically it turns into this thing where you have to choose one or the other or juggle both – and juggling both is pretty challenging.”
Besides, half-assing both activities would only reflect poorly on his career and reputation.
A constant struggle
If you want to stay on top of your game as a pro player, you need to be consistently playing the game.
This way, you can learn the game’s meta with every update and discover different strats and even anti-strats.
You are also required to commit a hefty travelling schedule should you wish to participate in local or international tournaments.
Bottomline, becoming a pro is time-consuming.
There are only a few professionals who can strike a balance of both (actively streaming and participating in competitive leagues), but the numbers remain to be scarce.
A viewer mentioned Seth ‘Scump’ Abner, a Call of Duty professional, who manages to balance both playing pro and streaming. To this, shroud only replied:
“Call of Duty ain’t sh*t, dawg.”
Shroud seems to be enjoying his laxed streaming schedule for now, where he can choose to call off a stream early or even entirely if he needs to.
