It seems Hiko will be coming out of CS retirement when Counter-Strike 2 officially launches! Kind of.
In a clip from one of Hiko’s recent Twitch streams, the former CSGO pro revealed that he would be making a CS comeback when CS2 comes out. But don’t get your hopes up too much.
I definitely plan to stream some CS2 when it comes out but I won’t be quitting VAL! Both games have some bad community problems but what game doesn’t? Seems like the people that are still around playing CS are generally older, and the quality of cs games (faceit) felt better https://t.co/2A82PWXzLt
— 100T Hiko (@Hiko) May 30, 2023
Much fan speculation ensued after his comments on the stream, and Hiko later tweeted a clarification on what he meant: he would be streaming CS2. He made a second tweet confirming he has no intentions of going pro again. Hiko cited the relatively older crowd of CS as one of the appeal factors of returning to CS as he feels the Valorant crowd (In his own words) is a little cringe. Many Valorant pros are in their late teens and early 20s, compared to Hiko’s 33, so the community disconnect is understandable.
Hiko was a CSGO pro for over 12 years before retiring in January 2020. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest CSGO players to never win a Major. He spent a significant portion of his career with Team Liquid, where he helped lead the team to arguably his biggest tourney moment, a second-place finish in ESL One: Cologne 2016, where Team Liquid would lose to SK Gaming.
After his retirement from CSGO, Hiko transitioned to pro play in Valorant. He would join 100 Thieves as a Valorant player and team captain. For two years, Hiko was a consistently high-performing member of 100 Thieves’ Valorant team, with notable wins like a 1st place finish in First Strike North America 2020 and 1st place finish in VCT North America Stage 2 Challengers 1 2021. Hiko would retire permanently from professional play in early 2022 but has stayed with 100 Thieves as a content creator.
Even if it is solely as a streamer, Hiko’s return to CS would be a welcome one.