JasonR talks about leaving OpTic, says CS: GO scene is a big bubble

Former in-game CS: GO leader of OpTic Gaming Jason “JasonR” Ruchelski revealed his full reasoning for leaving the team in a stream of his recently, describing the pro scene as being a big bubble.

JasonR theorized that financing professional players could face a decline, especially considering the rocky state of North American Counter-Strike. He believes that pros could be making 20 times more money if they prioritized streaming over his professional career.

“The CS:GO pro scene is a bubble. Nobody is making money except the leagues. All these organizations are paying salaries to these players and making nothing off of them or making not as much,” he continued. “Salaries will eventually go down, and that’s not because viewership is down, that’s mostly because all these leagues are making high prize pools.”

JasonR used Cloud9’s Mike “shroud” Grzesiek as a comparison regarding his streaming situation. He noted that shroud’s competitive drive for the game is what keeps him in the professional scene and that shroud’s stream doesn’t need as much care as his own. This is due to shroud being on a team first and then streaming second, while JasonR’s situation is the opposite.

Toward the end of his discussion, Jason even brought up his fears of being replaced by new and young talent. This was particularly evident in Cloud9’s 2016 acquisition of Jake “Stewie2k” Yip, who replaced in-game leader Sean “sgares” Gares at the time. “Some 18-year-old fucking prodigy can randomly come up into the scene and your whole team can instantly cut you just like that,” he speculated.

At the end of the day, Jason felt bad about leaving OpTic in a tough situation before ECS Finals, ESL Cologne, and the Krakow Major. “But trust me, it was a super hard decision. I’ve loved playing with OpTic, and I think they’re the best team in North America,” he concluded. James “hazed” Cobb will fill in as the new in-game leader for OpTic.