French CS:GO legend RpK announces retirement: \u201cIt was a real pleasure\u201d ESLCounter-Strike veteran C\u00e9dric \u2018RpK\u2019 Guipouy confirmed on Thursday that he is bringing an end to his playing career in the popular first-person shooter franchise. The 32-year-old, known in the Counter-Strike scene as \u2018The Tank\u2019, will start his own company in the automobile industry \u2013 which has long been a passion for him. RpK was released from his contract with Vitality on August 26, four months after being moved to the bench to make way for rising French talent Jayson \u2018Kyojin\u2019 Nguyen Van. He spent that time on the sidelines mulling over his future, with the lack of options in the Counter-Strike scene ultimately making him put a stop to his career. \u201cIt is clear that it is something big because something that I\u2019ve been doing for many years ends here today,\u201d he told Dexerto. \u201cBut all this has taught me a lot and it was a real pleasure. \u201cI completely believed I could have continued a little longer because I still feel fresh and in shape. As long as you feel ready you can go on.\u201d Today marks the end of a long & beautiful career. It started long ago, had ups & downs, but I always loved it. I’m greatful for your support over the years, I won’t forget it \u2764\ufe0fIn memory of my journey, I started my merch to keep Le Tank legacy alive \ud83d\udc47https:\/\/t.co\/jblRlyZ1af pic.twitter.com\/KHdZiCTmho \u2014 C\u00e9dric Guipouy \u2013 RPK MOTORSPORT (@RpKTANKK) September 2, 2021 His trajectory RpK\u2019s career began in 2007 in Counter-Strike: Source. He played for a number of top French teams over the next five years before transitioning to CS:GO as part of the famed VeryGames roster, which had many intense duels with NIP in the game\u2019s infancy. With the scene being relatively small at the time and sponsors scarce, RpK put his gaming career on hold in early 2013 to work with his father as a car mechanic to be able to make ends meet. He would return to action almost two years later with Titan in the wake of the infamous cheating scandal involving Hovik \u2018KQLY\u2019 Tovmassian. His journey then took him to G2, Envy, and, finally, Vitality in late 2018. It was with the latter team, headlined by superstar Mathieu \u2018ZywOo\u2019 Herbaut, that RpK enjoyed the most successful period of his career. He won several international events and finally made it out of the groups at a Major after eight unsuccessful attempts. Although he was never a star player in any of his CS:GO teams, his reliability with rifles and longevity made him one of the most respected figures in the scene. He was one of the rare examples of esports players still competing at the highest level while in their thirties. \u201cHonestly, I\u2019m quite happy with my career,\u201d he said. \u201cDespite some difficult moments, I kept fighting, and I was always focused on what I had to do. \u201cTo be honest, I could have continued to try to win a Major. I would have liked to have won one. That would have been the cherry on top of the cake.\u201d To commemorate his esports journey, RpK has released, in collaboration with his agency, Prodigy, his own line of merchandise with several items. \u201cIt\u2019s a project that I had wanted to do for some time and I\u2019m super excited to launch my own merch,\u201d he said. \u201cBeing \u201cThe Tank\u201d is something that I will always be proud of, and I\u2019m glad to have my own brand and clothes to remember it all my life! \u201cI hope the public will like it as much as I do.\u201d Esports future RpK has come back from retirement once, so there will be those thinking that this might not be a farewell but a see you soon. Read more: ESIC sheds light on HUNDEN ban – Questioned if he might return to esports one day, perhaps in a management position, \u2018The Tank\u2019 did not rule anything out. \u201cI doubt it\u2019s possible that people will see me in esports anytime soon,\u201d he said, before adding: \u201cBut as they always say and as the people who know me are aware of, nothing is impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
French CS:GO legend RpK announces retirement: \u201cIt was a real pleasure\u201d ESLCounter-Strike veteran C\u00e9dric \u2018RpK\u2019 Guipouy confirmed on Thursday that he is bringing an end to his playing career in the popular first-person shooter franchise. The 32-year-old, known in the Counter-Strike scene as \u2018The Tank\u2019, will start his own company in the automobile industry \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38327\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}