s1mple talks about player burnout in CSGO, says there's always motivation

Fariha Bhatti Published 28/04/2021

A plethora of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players stepped back from pro play in 2021, citing burnout symptoms. But, Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev is more motivated than ever.

Mental health issues in esports athletes were a hot pic during the online format of 2021. The conversation is still active, but s1mple is confused about why a professional player would feel less motivated to compete. On his live stream, the Ukrainian player read a comment about burnout and clarified that he’s not stressed.

“I don’t have burnout, and I don’t understand all those stupid – who talk about no motivation,” s1mple said.

S1mple is one of the world’s best players and has been actively competing since 2013. However, his heroics come short on world Majors, CSGO’s biggest tournaments. The pro player has a litany of titles in CSGO, but Major trophy has eluded him so far. He used this reference and said that he’s still not demotivated.

“A player who has never won a Major sits in front of you, just like you. There is always motivation,” s1mple said.

Major trophy clearly means a lot to s1mple. He earlier mentioned on his stream that he won’t back out of CSGO unless he wins a Major.

S1mple’s motivation to “destroy everyone” in CSGO keeps him going

In 2021, several teams fell apart after players moved to the bench due to burnout symptoms. The team with the most Major titles Astralis is still battling with a bad phase initiated when two of its players took a break from competitive play. Tim “nawwk” Jonasson was also granted a temporary leave from NiP when he showed “signs of exhaustion.” The player has now been permanently replaced with Astralis’ Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz.

While burnout, stress, and exhaustion among esports players should be taken seriously, s1mple wants players to use competitive spirit as their motivation.

“I have a motivation. Just go to a tournament and destroy everyone there, 15,000 fans raising their hands, just everyone having fun,” he said.

The 23-year old pro further said that looking forward to crowded LAN events is better than taking a break and “doing nothing.” s1mple’s longing for LAN events was quite evident through the camera. He looked dejected while talking about the loud crowd in CSGO podiums.

Through 2021, NaVi’s roster remained the same. The team didn’t win any significant title, but the performance didn’t falter either. It seems that s1mple is probably responsible for NaVi’s gelled-up roster in 2021.

Whatever the case, if s1mple keeps up this competitive spirit, it shouldn’t be too difficult for NaVi to win the upcoming PGL MAJOR STOCKHOLM 2021 in October and accomplish s1mple’s ultimate goal.

Fariha Bhatti

About Fariha Bhatti

Fariha Bhatti is a long-time gaming writer who loves competitive FPS games and slots with particularly fun themes. She got her start playing classic games developed by SNK, from legendary fighting game series The King of Fighters to challenging platform franchise Metal Slug. She now spends most of her time playing Valorant and Counter-Strike 2 while working her way through new slot releases to find her next favorite. Fariha has been published at PCGamesN, TalkEsport and ONE Esports.

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