100 Thieves founder Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag didn’t hold back when explaining why he swapped VALORANT lobbies for CS2.
Nadeshot has never been someone to sugarcoat opinions, and during his March 24 stream, the 100 Thieves CEO opened up about why he has been grinding CS2 instead of Riot’s tactical shooter.
“I like Val a lot, I just got burnt out on the player base,” Nadeshot said. “Everybody on VALORANT thinks they’re the best player in the game, and every player on Val has a god complex.”
Nadeshot says it’s not about VALORANT, it’s the people in it
Nadeshot didn’t call VALORANT bad or broken. He flat-out said he enjoys it. The burnout, according to him, comes entirely from the attitude that lives inside lobbies.
Riot Games has spent years building VALORANT as one of the most polished tactical shooters on the market, but the ranked experience has long been a sore subject for a majority of its player base. Complaints about toxicity, teammates with huge egos, and the pressure cooker atmosphere of competitive queues aren’t something new, but hearing it from Nadeshot holds a different kind of weight.
He’s one of the most recognizable figures in North American esports, someone who has played at the highest levels of competitive gaming and has watched the industry evolve for well over a decade.
Nadeshot’s CS2 skins deserved justice
“I have all these skins in CS, I feel like I had to give a fair shot at trying to be decent at this game,” continued the 100 Thieves founder.
The two games share a lot of DNA on paper, including 5v5, defusing bombs, and similar gunfight mechanics. But the culture inside their lobbies, at least from where Nadeshot is sitting, seems to be a different story.
CS2 has had its own long history of toxicity and community complaints, so the shift isn’t necessarily about finding a utopia. It’s more about what each game feels like to play on any given day, and right now, CS2 is giving him something VALORANT apparently stopped providing.
