Fnatic, one of the most popular orgs in eSports, has revealed that their “Fnatic Rising” squad will be paused for the time being. All of the players will become free agents.
Also, Fnatic has officially announced that Andreas “Samuelsson” Samuelsson and coach Jamie “keita” Hall will have their contracts extended for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive “throughout 2023”. Here’s the full statement from Fnatic’s feed:
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, better known by its acronym, has been out for over a decade. But the foundation of its mechanics, including the punishing time to kill and strategy-driven gameplay, have continued to make it a juggernaut in the eSports entertainment scene. It has been able to compete with every new arrival, from Rocket League to Valorant.
And Fnatic has always been a dominating force in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, so it’s probably disappointing for some of the Fnatic Rising members to end up as free agents. However, Fnatic makes it very clear in their official update that the program’s intent was to develop the players’ skill to a pro standard.
Fnatic admits that pausing their program is a little surprising, but they cite the need to work out their “overarching strategy” and feel the Fnatic Rising players would benefit from the pause too.
This likely means that Fnatic doesn’t want to stifle the players’ careers. The players could end up waiting indefinitely on Fnatic to sort everything out about their future. Meanwhile, they’ve extended the coach’s contract for Counter-Strike, so Fnatic does appear to be happy with certain directions of the team. Of course, keita is an icon, and has been a pro since the beginning.
There’s no word on when fans can expect further updates, as Fnatic kept things pretty vague today, and hinted that they simply haven’t finalized any other decisions yet.
You can read more about Fnatic, eSports, and other hit shooters like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive by checking out the rest of our news section!
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