steel: "It was just going to be 'matchfixer' on my gravestone; I don't want to be defined by that"

The Canadian analyst sat down with HLTV to discuss the upcoming expiry of his ban, broadcast work, and his plans for the future.

Joshua "⁠steel⁠" Nissan stated at the end of 2023 that he was shifting his priorities from competition to content creation and broadcast work for the foreseeable future, and he made that a reality at IEM Katowice when he returned to a talent role for the first time since cs_summit 4 in 2019.

In the first episode of a new, sit-down interview series entitled "Uncut" the Canadian spoke to HLTV about a range of topics including the expiry of his Valve ban in 2025, why he isn't playing right now, his plans for 2024, and adapting to the more production-heavy and detail-oriented analysis that an event like IEM Katowice entails compared to his previous experiences.

"I have these talking points, am I going to get to them?" steel explained of the fast-paced work with production teams and weaving different content through broadcasts. "Is it going to be something I can pivot to, or is it going to be something that I just spent time researching and preparing but we're going to run out of time or something else is going to happen?

"Being able to navigate that in real-time is a learning curve for me right now. I think I'm getting better with it, I'm mentally preparing for several talking points and if I can get to them, I get to them, if I can't, that's just the nature of the beast because of time constrictions or whatever. I'm also getting more comfortable with bouncing off of my coworkers on the stage, like with Maniac for example, I feel like I can get into conversations with him a lot easier, whereas with others it was more, they say a point, I say a point."

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steel's Valve ban set to elapse in January 2025

Later in the interview, steel spoke of his Valve ban elapsing in 2025 and what it meant to him. "It wasn't something I was expecting to just jump back into competing, it was more in the lines of... I don't want to be defined by that. The way that I was thinking about it was, you know how people have on their gravestones where they talk about the person, like 'husband,' 'father,' blah blah? It's like for me it was just going to be 'matchfixer' and I'm like, for fucks sake man, can I just move away from this?

"It was one moment in time, I've changed in so many different ways in so many years since then. It's not even like I changed in one direction, so many things have happened in my life since then."

steel then gave his thoughts on his ban expiring and why he is choosing not to compete now, whether he has considered a pivot to coaching, and what his roadmap is for 2024 between getting a team ready for 2025 and broadcast work. Watch the video embedded above or click here to see what he had to say.