Counter Strike 2: Rifler Luken and entry fragger NEKIZ officially parted ways with Gaimin Gladiators..

Brazilian Counter Strike 2 (CS2) professional esports players, rifler Luken and entry fragger NEKIZ, announced on Friday via their respective official X (Twitter) accounts that they have parted ways with their club, Gaimin Gladiators.

Both players stated that their contracts with Gaimin Gladiators had expired, leading them to leave and enter the free agent market, while also expressing openness to seeking new opportunities.

In his official statement, Luken emphasized that the club treated them very well, and that the reason for their departure was Valve's change in Major sticker revenue policy, which made the team unsustainable and forced their disbandment, contrary to various negative rumours circulating online.

Gaimin Gladiators announced at the end of June that due to Valve's revised Major sticker revenue policy, the club decided to immediately bench its entire roster after a strategic review of its CS2 program.

Following the departure of Luken and NEKIZ, the Gaimin Gladiators roster is now effectively disbanded.

Before the two players voluntarily left the team, JOTA (in-game leader) and felps (entry fragger) had already been released, and head coach horvy had moved to Rebels Gaming.

Currently, AWP-er HEN1 and bsd are the only remaining players on the team, with the latter having already been relegated to the bench since January.

The last time Gaimin Gladiators fielded a largely roster like this was at the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Cologne Major.

At that time, this veteran Brazilian Counter Strike 2 (CS2) esports team suffered a crushing 0-3 defeat and was eliminated, with a win percentage of only 23.5%.

Image source: Internet / HLTV