Shroud opens up about inflated CS: GO player salaries when the game is 'close to dying'

Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek isn’t exactly known for mincing his words when it comes to speaking his mind about an esports title.

The Twitch personality has been very critical of Valve, and how they have been handling CS: GO over the past couple of years.

In his latest stream, Shroud went into a lot of depth about why he feels CS: GO is dying, especially in North America, and why Valorant will become the next-best shooter in esports.

As has been evident to everyone, CS: GO has been slowly chipping away at itself, and it was the community holding the esports scene of the game together. Valve had failed to make any significant improvements in both CS: GO and DOTA 2, and it's not just Shroud who feels that both games are being overshadowed by Valorant and League of Legends, respectively.

The streamers take on the state of CS: GO in North America began when the topic of 100 Thieves leaving the legendary shooter popped up.

In the stream, Shroud said:

“There are [few] NA teams now. NA as a whole is not popular at all. You have EG. You have Complexity; you have Liquid ⁠— that’s it. The rest is just like E. I’m surprised C9 is still in it. I feel like C9 is going to pull out soon.”

Though Cloud9 may have recently completed their roster with three-year extended contracts, they only have one North American player in their lineup. So, in a way, Shroud was right, as Ricky “floppy” Kemery is the only representative of his region in the squad.

TheScore Esports did a recent take on the whole NA vs EU CS: GO conundrum, and even they believe that Valve’s shooter is becoming increasingly Eurocentric.

The host, Colin McNeil, noted:

“Where CS: GO esports are completely Euro-centric. Where top tier orgs are outright blocking and deleting the scene like it was a bad ex-girlfriend. Where young superstars are calling it quits because they’ve been forcibly relocated an ocean away from their homes.”

Shroud disgusted by inflated CS: GO salaries

In the wake of a dying shooter, players are being paid exorbitant salaries by the bucket loads. Shroud bore no bones when he said:

“CS is undeniably dying, and yet players are still getting paid like $40,000 a month. 30, 40 grand. I don’t understand where this money is coming from and how it’s still pumping.”

“NA just died in CS, hard. And in my opinion, that’s a big L to the community, to lose NA. Because I think they brought so much hype, and so much excitement into the game and scene, so for that to be lost kind of sucks.”

CS: GO has had its problems in America for some time now, especially when it came to preparation and practice. And though in recent years, the success of teams like EG, FURIA, and MIBR gave the scene in the region a significant boost, it was never nearly enough.

Shroud even talked about how practice was during his time as a CS: GO pro.

“The amount of sh*tty f*cking scrims we used to get ⁠— oh my God. I would say half of our practice was a waste of time. Whether that’s our fault, which happens, or the other team’s fault, it was so f*cking lame man. From my experience of scrimming and practicing for years, all NA wants to do is win. Even in practice, and that does nothing – winning in practice does nothing for you.”

The condition of North America in CS: GO hilariously reflects their state in other esports titles, especially League of Legends.

No matter how well North American teams perform domestically and in their scrims, they eventually get dunked on and outclassed on the international stage.

TSM going 0-6 at the League of Legends Worlds 2020 perfectly reflects the state of this region in some of the competitive esports.