Sasha "S1mple" Kostyliev, the legendary Ukrainian Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player, recently began playing Riot Games' popular title, Valorant. However, upon starting his stream of the game on March 27, he found that he was banned from participating in the game's ranked mode.

Valorant is a competitive multiplayer FPS that has seen a lot of popularity since it was released in June of last year. Its unique mix of high-stakes tactical action and hero abilities garnered plenty of attention and fans and even saw many esports professionals switching to Valorant. While not jumping over completely, it was big news that S1mple was playing the game on stream.

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Just prior to the ban, S1mple had just reached Valorant's second-highest rank, Immortal. The ban has since been lifted after S1mple got in touch with Riley Yurk, Valorant's esports strategist, who seemingly got the ban lifted for him. Neither Riot Games nor S1mple has given any official word on the nature of the ban, but it did seem to follow Valorant's toxic chat punishments introduced in Patch 2.05.

S1mple's ban came at a time when the CS:GO community becoming increasingly worried about professional players "defecting" to Valorant. With esports juggernaut Could9 closing down their Counter-Strike efforts and rumors circulating about countless pros and ex-pros considering the switch, some fans were concerned that S1mple's interest in the game could lead to him considering the switch as well. This seems even more possible with Valorant's success in esports, as well as popular streamer and ex-professional Counter-Strike player Shroud claiming that professional players like S1mple could make millions if they switched to the game.

However, S1mple's switch seems unlikely as of now. Not only is he still an active professional player for Natus Vincere as an AWPer, but he has also spoken out publicly about some of Valorant's design, including claiming that the game's signature sniper, the Operator, is Valorant's worst weapon. The ban, as short-lived as it was, undoubtedly did little to help the game win him over further as well.

That said, a switch to Valorant would not be wholly surprising for S1mple. The game's strong esports community has a lot of potential growth, and it would undoubtedly be easy for an established player such as S1mple to get on a team with a good contract rather easily. Furthermore, Valorant's young scene means that companies are more willing to sign un-established teams, a problem that many Counter-Strike pros have said is a big issue in their professional community. S1mple will undoubtedly continue to stream both games for the foreseeable future, and only time will tell which game his allegiance aligns with.

Valorant is available for PC.

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Source: One Esports