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With numerous CS:GO players moving to Valorant, Bad News Bears captain Adam ‘Shakezullah’ Hardeman talked about why some players haven’t made the switch. North America is the strongest region in Valorant which is why it’s a dilemma for NA CS:GO stars.
When you look at the Valorant scene, you can see that former CS:GO stalwarts like Shahzeb ‘ShahZaM’ Khan, Spencer ‘Hiko’ Martin, and Josh ‘steel’ Nissan are tearing it up as the best players in the Valorant Champions Tour. It is not surprising that some players have followed in their footsteps and transitioned into becoming Valorant pros.
Despite the number of players switching over, players like Shakezullah have spoken up about why they continue to play CS:GO even if they don’t have the momentum anymore as the world’s number one first-person shooter. Riot Games’ FPS title has grown into the mainstream as one of the most popular games but most FPS aficionados still prefer the classic CS:GO gameplay.
Now that Shakezullah is with BNB, he found a team that can both pay him and give him the best opportunities possible. He could’ve switched over to Valorant but Shakezullah wanted to stay in CS:GO and its pro scene.
He said, ‘I think there’s definitely more pressure because at the end of the day, I think any of us could go to VALORANT and find an offer there, but we play CS because we love it, and it just puts more pressure on us to perform. I don’t think that was exactly why we struggled in Europe, but it might have been a contributing factor’.
It should not be surprising that people are sticking with CS because they love the game too much to move away. While the stars who moved away also loved Valve’s FPS game, they fell out of love with CS and it’s not fair to scrutinize them for their choice of what game to play.
In the meantime, the NA scenes for both games are thriving which is awesome to see. Once known as an underdog region, NA has carved out a solid path for success over the past few years in CS:GO and the past year in Valorant.
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Words: Cholo Martin
Image: PA
