RpK Is Coming Back From Retirement

RpK’s decision to return to pro play comes as a bit of a shock, considering he hasn’t been active in pro scene for over two years and has, since his retirement, opened a garage shop called RpK Motorsports. Moreover, RpK is 34 years old, an age at which very few esports players want to keep competing at the top level.

It is unclear why the French CS legend decided to return to competing; however, like many other pro players who retired, he likely missed the action of competing on the big stages more than the financial gain from being a CS pro. 

RpK has, over his 15-year-long career as a CS pro, earned over $560,000 in tournament winnings, including several S-Tier events such as EPICENTER 2019, BLAST Premier: Fall 2020, and Esports Championship Series Season 7 – Finals, all of which he won as a member of Team Vitality.

The 34-year-old started his Counter-Strike career in 2007 as a member of evidence and signed his first professional contract in 2008 when RpK joined H2k Gaming. He later played for Epsilon eSports, ROCCAT, and VeryGames before transitioning from CS: Source to CS:GO.

Over the last nine years of his esports career, RpK played for Titan, G2 Esports, Team Envy, and Team Vitality, where he spent nearly three years before getting benched.

Interestingly, RpK has never competed on an international roster, as he is only willing to communicate in French. This could present a problem for the 34-year-old searching for a new team, as the French CS scene isn’t as strong as it used to be, mainly because many French players are playing for international lineups.

Still, RpK would be an excellent addition to an all-French roster of younger talent as an in-game leader or a mentor. However, as it stands now, it’s unclear where RpK might end up.