s1mple is not going to the first CS2 Major of 2026. His team BC.Game pulled out of ROG JOURNEY Spring, the last LAN event before the IEM Cologne Major invite deadline on April 6. With the team ranked 41st in the Valve Rating System, the withdrawal eliminates any remaining path to qualification.
A representative from BC.Game told HLTV: “We’ve decided to withdraw from JOURNEY. Me and the players know that our current results are not good enough. We’ve been strong in practice, but we haven’t delivered in officials, and we’ve lost games we shouldn’t be losing.”
That quote says more about this roster than any stat line could.
How did it get to this point?
BC.Game acquired the core of SAW at the start of 2026 for a reported $2.5 million, according to journalist OverDrive. SAW was ranked 22nd in the VRS at the time and already held a spot at IEM Krakow. The signing brought s1mple back to a tier-one LAN for the first time since his stand-in stint with FaZe at the BLAST.tv Austin Major.
Krakow went okay. BC.Game made it through Stage 1 but got eliminated in Stage 2 after losses to Vitality and FaZe. Not a disaster for a new roster. The problem is that Krakow turned out to be the high point.
After that, the results fell apart. Last place at the IEM Rio Europe Closed Qualifier. Losses to ECSTATIC and illwill at the Parken Challenger Championship. A group stage exit at the Imperium Cup that dropped them to 42nd in the VRS. An analyst named Finn ran 115 million match simulations before the withdrawal and gave them a 34% chance of making Cologne. That number is now zero.
BC.Game still have two big LANs on their schedule: PGL Bucharest in April and IEM Atlanta in May. Both take place after the Major invite deadline, so neither helps their Cologne case. They got invited to Bucharest because several top teams skipped the event.
s1mple has played more Dota 2 than CS2 on FACEIT in 2026
Here is the detail that will get the community talking. Since January 2, 2026, s1mple has played over 37 Dota 2 matches on his Dotabuff profile. During the same period, he logged only 30 CS2 matches on FACEIT.
This is not new behavior. In September 2025, he played 123 Dota 2 matches in a single month, three times more than his FACEIT games. His favorite heroes include Ursa, Juggernaut, Spectre, and Phantom Assassin as a core player, with Windranger as a support. His Dota 2 win rate in 2026 sits at 46%. His all time most played hero is Pudge, with 135 games at a 54% win rate.
In December 2025, s1mple said on stream: “I don’t want to play Dota as much as I used to. I need to get back in shape in CS2.” Three months later, the FACEIT numbers suggest that did not happen.
To be fair, the raw numbers do not tell the full story. s1mple also plays official matches, team scrims, and private practice sessions that do not show up on FACEIT or Dotabuff. He played 14 FACEIT matches in a five-day stretch from March 13 to 17 alone. But the optics are rough. When your team is 41st in the VRS and you have more Dota 2 games than CS2 pugs on your public profile, people will draw conclusions.
Is s1mple’s CS career winding down?
This is the question the community keeps circling back to.
s1mple is widely considered the greatest CS:GO player of all time. Three HLTV Player of the Year awards (2018, 2021, 2022). Twenty-one HLTV MVP medals. A Major win with NAVI at PGL Stockholm 2021. An Intel Grand Slam trophy. The graffiti on Cache. The documentary. The legend.
But the CS2 era has been different. He benched himself on NAVI in October 2023, citing personal reasons and dissatisfaction with early CS2. Two loan stints with Team Falcons produced nothing notable. A brief stand-in run with FaZe showed flashes of the old s1mple. Then came BC.Game, a $2.5 million project that has produced one decent LAN showing and a string of lower-tier exits.
Casters and analysts are not holding back. In a recent segment, multiple figures including FalleN and torzsi said they do not expect s1mple to make the HLTV Top 20 in 2026. Another commentator put it bluntly: “I don’t think s1mple has that passion anymore.”
Reports suggest s1mple’s salary at BC.Game is around $120,000 per month. For context, ZywOo reportedly earns around $100,000 monthly at Vitality. The salary is not the issue. The results are.
What comes next for BC.Game?
The org’s unnamed representative framed the JOURNEY withdrawal as a reset. “Our full focus now is to fix our chemistry.” PGL Bucharest and IEM Atlanta are the next opportunities to prove the roster can function at a higher level.
Whether s1mple is still on the team for those events, and whether BC.Game itself remains committed to this project after burning through a $2.5 million buy-in with almost nothing to show for it, are the real questions heading into the second half of the year.
For now, the Cologne Major will happen without s1mple. The Cathedral of Counter-Strike returns for the first time in a decade, and the player many still call the GOAT will not be there. That sentence, even typed out, feels wrong. But here we are.
Frequently asked questions
Will s1mple play at IEM Cologne Major 2026?
No. BC.Game withdrew from the last qualifying event before the invite deadline. The team is ranked 41st in the VRS and has no remaining path to qualification.
Why did BC.Game withdraw from ROG JOURNEY?
The organization said results have not matched their practice performance and they want to focus on fixing team chemistry before their next events.
Has s1mple been playing Dota 2 instead of CS2?
Since January 2026, s1mple has logged more Dota 2 matches (37+) than CS2 FACEIT games (30) according to Dotabuff and FACEIT data. He also participates in official matches and team scrims not visible on those platforms.
What is s1mple’s salary at BC.Game?
Reports indicate approximately $120,000 per month. For comparison, ZywOo at Vitality reportedly earns around $100,000 monthly.
When is s1mple’s next LAN event?
PGL Bucharest in April 2026, followed by IEM Atlanta in May 2026. Neither event contributes to IEM Cologne Major qualification.
When is the IEM Cologne Major 2026?
June 8 to 21, 2026. Invites will be issued on April 6 based on VRS rankings.
