Following the events of the Call of Duty League Championship weekend that took place around a week ago, OpTic Chicago star Matthew "FormaL" Piper has announced that he is retiring from competitive play and will be pursuing other avenues after 11 years as an esports professional.
Revealed by FormaL over Twitter, he said, "Here we are, 11 years down the road...it's been a wild ride. Learned a lot about myself through this journey, and I can say I'm happy with what I leave behind."
FormaL further touched upon the decision, mentioning, "If you're wondering why I'd like to pursue other options from competing, it just isn't the same anymore. After 10 years of scrims, tournaments, and just grinding altogether it can get tiresome. I do believe I could still compete, but it'd be just straight up selfish to whoever I'd be playing with, knowing I might not give them my all. I wish nothing but the best to all my friends still competing, truly."
As for where the future will take FormaL, he stated that content creation is the current path in mind, before signing off by saying, "That's all I've got for you guys for now, thanks for taking time to read this, and just know this isn't a goodbye, it's just a step towards having more fun and enjoying video games without the added stress of competing."
This comes around the same time that Dylan "Envoy" Hannon, another member of the OpTic Chicago team, has become an unrestricted free agent for the 2022 season, meaning he can go to whichever team he chooses, assuming he receives offers.
In other CDL and OpTic news, a recent report suggested that Team Envy are looking to acquire the OpTic Gaming IP. Read more on that here.
