Richard “shox” Papillon, one of the most decorated players France has produced in Counter-Strike, is in hospital being treated for what he understands to be a fairly serious intra-abdominal infection. The 34-year-old has spent several days on intravenous antibiotics, and doctors are now running a series of checks ahead of an endoscopy and a colonoscopy.
The news first reached fans through his Instagram account, before shox addressed it on X on 1 November with a short post written in French. In our translation, he told followers that “there was a little glitch in Beijing, I’m in for several days on drips,” and he even joked that his famous luck seemed to have deserted him. He added that doctors were treating him and that he expected to have further tests back in France, before closing with a simple message for worried fans: “Rest assured, I’m OK.”
What shox has told fans about his treatment
A longer update followed on Instagram this week, and the CS2 News account relayed it in English on 4 November. According to that translation, the trouble began with pain in his side, and he stressed that he still did not have all the information about his condition. As far as he knew, it was a fairly serious infection inside the abdomen, and he had been on IV antibiotics for around three days to bring the inflammation down.
Doctors have since ordered what he described as a whole battery of tests, starting with an electrocardiogram. They are also checking whether his body can handle a general anaesthetic, because an endoscopy and a colonoscopy are planned to investigate the problem further. Shox admitted that he did not yet know whether he would need to stay on antibiotics once those results came back.
He also explained why he had said so little until now, telling fans that he simply had not had the energy to post during the first few days of treatment. Beyond those details, shox has not shared a diagnosis or any timeline for his recovery. Fans have been leaving get-well messages in the replies to his X post, which had passed 100,000 views by 4 November.
From DreamHack Winter 2014 to the French superteams
Papillon first made his name with French sides such as VeryGames and Titan, and HLTV ranked him the third-best player in the world for 2013. His defining moment came a year later with Team LDLC.com, who beat Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-1 in the DreamHack Winter 2014 final in Jönköping. That Major title, won alongside kioShiMa, Happy, SmithZz and NBK-, remains the only one of his long career. HLTV kept him in its top 20 in 2014, 2015 and 2016, when he finished sixth during his first season with G2 Esports.
Spells at EnVyUs and a second stint with Titan followed, before he joined G2 in February 2016 as the French scene reshuffled its best players into rival superteams. He spent more than three years at G2, then moved to Team Vitality in September 2019 in place of NBK-. Playing alongside a young ZywOo, he lifted EPICENTER 2019 in Moscow before the end of that year. Vitality parted ways with him in December 2021, and a week later he joined Team Liquid’s North American roster for his first spell away from the French scene.
Short stays at Apeks from August 2022 and at Nakama, a team he co-founded in January 2023, came next. He has not joined a full-time professional roster since leaving Nakama that May, and HLTV still lists him without a team.
Life after Nakama, from The Draft to streaming
Shox has not disappeared from competition altogether, though. In February 2024 he captained Marcos Gaming at The Draft, a BLAST and NODWIN Gaming tournament that paired retired Counter-Strike stars with regional teams. He won it by beating kennyS and True Rippers 3-2 in a best-of-five final in Kuala Lumpur. He was named the event’s MVP after recording 302 kills and 187 deaths across five matches in the closing LAN stage.
These days, shox is best known as a streamer and content creator, broadcasting on Twitch as shoxieJESUSS and posting videos to his YouTube channel. His last post on X before the hospital news, on 30 October, promoted a new aim challenge video, and his Instagram bio still describes him as a professional CS player. It is on that Twitch channel that he has said he will explain everything, once he feels well enough to go live again.
