NBK Announces Switch From CS:GO to Valorant

Nathan "NBK" Schmitt announced his intentions to switch from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to Valorant on his Twitter Tuesday. The announcement by the legendary CS:GO pro continues the trend we've seen with former CS:GO players making their way to Valorant, which is still growing both in popularity among its player base and from an esports perspective. While what organization NBK lands with has yet to be revealed, it's stunning to see such an icon for CS:GO make the major switch, but with popular figures like Ethan "Ethan" Arnold and Shahzeb "ShahZaM" Khan making the same jump, it speaks volumes about how professional players are examining the current state of both CS:GO and Valorant.

It remains to be seen how other CS:GO pros will react to NBK's decision, but it may spark a continued exodus to Valorant, a game with what appears to be a much brighter future, especially with the recent success of the VCT Masters in Reykjavik, in which the championship between Fnatic and Sentinels drew over 1,000,000 concurrent viewers.

At the speed at which Valorant is growing as an esport, there may be more CS:GO players looking to jump ship, and turn their focus towards Valorant, especially now that NBK has joined their ranks. With the release of Episode 3, and the introduction of a brand new Agent, it seems that Valorant is without question trending upwards. From the esports side, fans will have to wait and see just how the pro scene changes and morphs over the summer.