FPL (FACEIT Pro League), true to its name, has been a high-level training ground for pro players since its inception, providing young talents with opportunities to compete and prove themselves, thereby getting scouted by top teams worldwide. However, recently, a slew of pro players such as Niko, dev1ce, NBK, and S1mple have voiced complaints that FPL is no longer what it used to be and has lost its essence. From their perspective, FPL has seen players who play selfishly, lacking teamwork, and even being toxic, showing disrespect to their more experienced peers. This is partly due to the operational mechanism of FPL, where players who perform well in a month are rewarded with a significant cash prize, leading them to focus solely on their own game, competing for roles to achieve better stats than other players.
After numerous complaints, Faceit finally took decisive action by unexpectedly kicking over 30 players from FPL without any prior notice. Immediately after being kicked, many of the affected players voiced their opposition, claiming that this decision was very unfair as they had not received any warnings or reminders. Furthermore, many believe that this is merely a move to appease and retain pro players in FPL.
In a recent stream, S1mple named several players he wanted to kick and explained his reasons: Ayken, Aslan, MODDII, FreddyB, Morelz (who topped FPL in March), Butters (a player who recently joined FPL in March),… Among them, Ayken stood out, a player who had a recent argument with him during a stream. Justifying his decision, he stated that despite playing in FPL for quite a while, Ayken had not improved at all and only played for money. S1mple has also explained multiple times that the decision to kick was made with input from many players, and he suggested not kicking those recently added players but giving them a trial period. The goal of S1mple and other pro players is to return FPL to its original essence, a quality training environment for pro players and a place for young talents to develop and turn professional.
You can watch S1mple’s stream here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/598512620?t=1h35m35s.
In response to S1mple’s accusations, Ayken asserted that he does not play for money, stating that in the past 6 months, he has only earned 500 USD from FPL, and part of the reason for his kick is due to personal conflicts with S1mple and Xantares, two top players with influence in the league.
“One thing that I (and perhaps others) find quite strange is that I did not receive any warnings during my 3 years of playing FPL. They never told me I was playing poorly or had a bad attitude, and then one day I got kicked after over 3 years of playing regularly without missing any months.
[…]
I don’t know who voted (I don’t think many people voted to kick, except S1mple and Xantares – those who have personal conflicts with me), but I find it hard to believe that Butters was kicked – a player who just joined FPL 18 days ago. Butters and Morelz are probably the least deserving cases to be kicked.” – Ayken shared in a Twitlonger post.
This clash continued as S1mple made remarks about AsLan, another player who was kicked, stating that he was not good enough to play in FPL. Ayken later defended AsLan, claiming S1mple had double standards by criticizing AsLan while overlooking Loba (a well-known streamer in FPL who is quite close with S1mple), a player who also has poor stats in FPL.
Ayken: The average for him (AsLan) is 20 kills per game, and this stat is higher than 80% of players currently playing in FPL. If you think AsLan is not good enough, then look at Loba’s stats, it’s double standards.
S1mple: I am not defending Loba at all – everyone has the right to vote, but AsLan said that his playstyle – rushing and shooting through smoke – frustrates pro players. Personally, I don’t like Aslan’s playstyle, but that’s not the reason.
Ayken: I know, but Loba is not on your kick list, so that’s a form of protection. I just think it’s really unfair that you vote to kick a player who is good enough and has no communication issues. I also know that not just you but several other pro players also voted to kick me for the same reason as you.
It seems that the issues within FPL have existed for quite some time, and Faceit’s decision to kick over 30 players without any explanation certainly does not seem like a reasonable solution. Stay tuned for the latest and hottest CS:GO news in our upcoming articles!