NAVI Officially Announces That s1mple Is On His Way Out Of The Team’s Active CS2 Roster
2023 saw the release of Counter-Strike 2, a multiplayer tactical first-person shooter game created and published by Valve. This is Counter-Strike’s sixth main iteration in the series. Releasing on September 27, 2023, after being revealed on March 22, 2023, it was created as a refined version of the last major release, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. It replaced Global Offensive on Steam.
The Counter-Terrorists and the Terrorists engage in combat in a range of objective-based game situations, just as in the game’s predecessor. Better graphics, a new server architecture, and the move from the Source game engine to Source 2 are some of the major technological advancements between Counter-Strike 2 and Global Offensive. In order to take use of Source 2’s features, several Global Offensive maps were also altered; some even had whole redesigns.
Natus Vincere (NAVI)’s Oleksandr Olehovych Kostyliev, sometimes referred to as s1mple, is a Ukrainian professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player. S1mple started out his stint as a professional gamer with Team Liquid, and he took Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko’s spot on Natus Vincere after departing from Team Liquid in 2016. S1mple won ESL One: New York 2016 with Na’Vi, and he was ranked #4 in the HLTV top 20.
Over the next few years, s1mple continued on as a part of NAVI’s main roster for Counter Strike: Global Offense. After more than seven years, Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev, a name that had come to be associated with NAVI, was formally removed from the team’s active lineup, shocking supporters all around the world.
As seen by his public statement, in which he also stated taking a vacation from professional Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) and keeping an eye on any offers that come his way, not even the player himself had trained for this particular occasion.
The willingness to potentially swap roles and go from using an AWP as his primary weapon to a rifle was, nonetheless, the largest revelation made by s1mple.
His statement follows the report that NAVI is expected to sign a sniper’s replacement. The Ukrainian professional faced problems with his European residence documents this past month, which prevented him from attending IEM Sydney. Andrij “B1ad3” Ghorodensjkyj, the coach of NAVI, stood in for s1mple at the function.
Additionally, s1mple has expressed some unease with the latest Valve game and hasn’t appeared to understand the new mechanics in CS2.
What comes next is that I wanted to take a break, but that’s just half of the story. The all-star player stated, “I have to take care of other people and fix documents.”
s1mple To Step Away From The Competitive Counter-Strike 2 Game
HLTV reports that NAVI has signed Sprout shooter Ihor “wonderful” Zhdanov to temporarily replace s1mple. As a result of his absence from IEM Sydney and NAVI’s search for a replacement, some have speculated that S1mple may join other elite teams.
S1mple did state in his article that he was curious to see what was out there, but he refuted those reports.
The player still has two years left on his NAVI contract, but since the debut of CS2, organizations are betting more on younger players rather than CS:GO veterans.
Seven-Year Collaboration Ends: NAVI Eliminates s1mple From the Current Counter Strike 2 Lineup
After NAVI signed s1mple from Team Liquid in August of 2016, the rest is history. The player went on to become one of the industry’s greatest players and a legend of the game, propelling the company to unprecedented heights in tandem with his achievements.
During his remarkable seven-year tenure with the Ukrainian esports organization, he helped NAVI win several major competitions, including the elusive Intel Grand Slam and the much sought-after PGL Major Stockholm 2021.
Personally, s1mple won 21 MVP awards from different CS:GO competitions and was named “Player of the Year” three times in total.
However, s1mple has been benched by NAVI barely one month after the release of CS2, and he has even published a statement detailing his immediate future and future ambitions.
s1mple Was Disappointed with the Newly Released Counter Strike 2
After hearing from the developers about Counter-Strike 2’s “issues” in response to several grievances, s1mple disclosed that he had ghosted Valve.
A lot has been made about the condition of Counter-Strike 2 by both pros and casual players as the inaugural LAN event moves on to the playoffs at IEM Sydney.
Due to a number of problems with the new release, including bogus bans and game-breaking flaws that have plagued the experience from the beginning, concerns have been raised about its competitive preparedness.
And in the first month of the game’s official release, Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyljev, one of the all-time greats in competitive strategy, has been CS2’s harshest critic in the run-up to its launch event.
In a recent broadcast, s1mple related how, when asked if Valve had ever contacted him with his thoughts on CS2, he acknowledged that they had. Still, he declined to respond.
Valve decided to approach S1mple on Twitter to find out what issues he was having and why he was no longer interested in playing the game after observing the commotion on social media. S1mple said on one of his Twitch streams that Valve had contacted him, but he had not bothered to respond.
The CS2 community has responded differently to the ideas of s1mple. Some encourage and support him in his stance, while others chastise him for not adjusting to the changes in the game.
He said that Valve had contacted him in response to a specific tweet he had sent, advising players to hold off on becoming professionals in Counter-Strike due to the current condition of the game and to wait for future patches that would address the problems.
Due to visa concerns, s1mple was unable to participate in NAVI’s inaugural CS2 event at IEM Sydney. NAVI would go on to lose in the group stage even though they managed to win their opening game.
NAVI’s current CS2 lineup, after s1mple was removed from the active roster, is as follows:
- Valerij “b1t” Vakhovsjkyj
- Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen – IGL
- Justinas “jL” Lekavicius
- Ivan “iM” Mihai
- Andrij “B1ad3” Ghorodensjkyj – Coach
