Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek recently shared his thoughts on Riot’s new tactical shooter, Valorant, and how it compares to CS:GO.
While streaming on Mixer, Shroud was asked if Valorant could overtake Counter-Strike.
“Probably,” Shroud responded, “I just think because it’s a much easier game to get into, much more pleasing to the eye, and a little bit more casual. Counter-Strike is a little bit more hardcore.”
Shroud is considered to be a master in any type of first-person shooter. He began his CS:GO pro career in 2014, and retired in 2018 to be a full-time streamer. Since then, Shroud has been playing all sorts of first-person shooters, and Valorant is the latest game he is obsessed with.
Shroud also believes that Valve is feeling the pressure from Valorant, and that’s the only reason Valve has recently started rolling out updates for CS:GO.
“They had no competition for years and they did nothing or years. As soon as a Valorant closed beta comes out, they start pumping out updates,” said Shroud.
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Shroud also said that his former CS:GO teammate, Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham, believes Valve will release the Source 2 engine soon and that CS:GO will go through a major overhaul this summer, which is incidentally the same time Valorant is set to officially release.
Valve’s Source 2 engine is being used in the company’s major titles like Dota 2 and Half-Life: Alyx. But CS:GO is still currently running on the first Source engine. If what Shroud and Skadoodle predict are true, this will certainly shake up the competitive FPS landscape moving forward.
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