100 Thieves confirm CS:GO exit

The United States-based organization confirmed the reports of their plans to pull out of the CS:GO scene.

100 Thieves have announced that they will be withdrawing from Counter-Strike, confirming an earlier report from HLTV.org. In a video posted on Twitter, Matthew "Nadeshot" Haag, the organisation's founder and CEO, justified the decision with the "ambiguity, vagueness and uncertainty" in the CS:GO scene right now and the fact that, because of the coronavirus pandemic, most big tournaments will be based in Europe, far away from the organisation's Los Angeles headquarters.

"We have loved and cherished every moment that our CS:GO team has competed at the 100 Thieves Cash App Compound," Nadeshot said. "That's where we want our teams to be, that's where we want our players to be, we want to give them the support structure that they deserve. We want to integrate them into our culture. We want to be there for them for any problem that they might have, big or small.

"What's happening right now in CS:GO is that everything is transitioning over to Europe. We talked to our players about what solutions we could find because they've been competing their butts off. They've done the best job that they could to bring the results that we strive for. Unfortunately, we have fallen short quite a bit. Even if we wanted to make roster changes, there were still hurdles in our way. Right now, with the qualifications and the points system for Majors, any roster movement that we would have made could have jeopardised our position or our opportunity to even compete at a Major. And that was a gigantic roadblock."

Nadeshot explained that 100 Thieves "do not want to stand in the way" of the players' success and that, given the organisation's inability to provide the same level of support if the team moved to Europe, decided to open talks with other parties to find them a "proper home" that could give them "all the things that we can't right now".

"At the end of the day, we believe that our players' success, whether they're competing for us now or in the future, is our number-one priority," he said. "Them being in Europe with other organisations was the best solution that we could find."

IEM New York will be the last tournament in which the Australian team will don the colors of 100 Thieves, the organisation they joined from Renegades in October 2019, just weeks after reaching the semi-finals at the StarLadder Major.

The team went on to reach the grand final at IEM Beijing, their first event under 100 Thieves, but results have been mixed since the turn of the year, especially since the pandemic began. The Australian team have been outside the top 10 in the rankings for the last five months, dropping to as low as 20th in September.

Questions about the team's future had been raised after a report by DBLTAP revealed that Complexity were close to acquiring Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage, 100 Thieves' star player. This came just two weeks after the announcement that coach Chet "⁠Chet⁠" Singh had decided to move to VALORANT.

Nadeshot does not rule out the possibility of 100 Thieves returning to Counter-Strike esports "with another iteration of a roster" if the situation changes. The Australian squad was 100 Thieves' second CS team after a failed experiment with a Brazilian lineup containing the core of the Immortals roster that finished second at PGL Major Krakow in 2017.

"Everything I've shared with you comes with a heavy heart," Nadeshot said. "It just sucks. We wish there was a better answer, but this is what's best for our business, this is what's best for our players and this is what's best for their careers."

100 Thieves's squad feature:

Aaron "⁠AZR⁠" Ward
Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage
Joakim "⁠jkaem⁠" Myrbostad
Jay "⁠Liazz⁠" Tregillgas
Sean "⁠Gratisfaction⁠" Kaiwai