Renowned Twitch personality and former CS:GO professional player Michael ‘Shroud’ Grzesiek has expressed his grim outlook on the future of the Counter-Strike franchise, believing that it will meet its demise with the release of CS2.
For over a decade, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) maintained its status as one of the world’s most popular first-person shooter games. However, its successor, Counter-Strike 2 (CS2), made its long-awaited debut on September 27, following months of beta testing.
CS2 aimed to enhance the overall gameplay experience by introducing new features, generating considerable anticipation among fans. Nevertheless, during a recent live stream, Shroud, who was once a professional CS:GO player, voiced his skepticism.
Shroud’s pessimism centers around CS2 potentially signaling the end of the franchise. He highlighted concerns about the game’s mechanics, specifically mentioning issues with responsive smokes in the first-person shooter.
“They need to delete the smoke effect,” he asserted. “When you run out of the smoke when you’re f**king Batman. They literally need to delete that from this game. I think this game dies. CS dies with two. I think it does. I firmly believe that.”
However, Shroud’s perspective faced pushback from his teammates, who challenged his negativity. One teammate remarked, “I feel like you’re being a little negative.” To this, Shroud responded, “It’s just the truth, I think it does. I think it’s the end of Counter-Strike with this game. Which, I mean, we had a good run, no? We definitely did. Think about it.”
While Shroud foresees a grim future for the franchise, it is clear that Counter-Strike 2 continues to thrive, currently reigning as the most-played game on Steam without signs of slowing down.
