Since Sentinels revealed that top streamer Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek would be joining their competitive Valorant roster on July 8, his viewership numbers have never been higher.
Fans are ecstatic because it’s the first time he’s committed to coming back to esports since quitting in 2018 with the exception of a brief stint with a Valorant stack in July 2021.
Shroud earned a reputation as a “human aimbot” while competing with Cloud9 in the CS:GO era. It sparked the cult following that enabled him to become one of the most well-known figures on the Amazon platform.
Now, as he clears out the cobwebs and intensifies his training in preparation for the tantalizing return, viewers are tuning in in droves to witness the momentous Valorant moment for themselves.
Between April and June of 2022, Shroud averaged about 17,000 viewers per stream, significantly fewer than the 28,000 viewers he typically attracted on the platform over the course of his career. However, since the Sentinels announcement, he has averaged 43,373, 53,513 the day after, and 46,455 the day after, with a peak of 72,659, demonstrating that it had a significant impact on his viewership.
It’s the biggest boost his stream has experienced since the first week New World launched in 2021, when tens of thousands of people watched him, and it’s also caused Valorant’s numbers to soar.
It’s uncertain how long Shroud will remain with Sentinels.
The team’s upcoming run at the North American VCT Last Chance Qualifier in August will feature him in the controller role, the organization confirmed. Some believe he’ll be a long-term addition, while others are sure he’s just filling in while Hunter “SicK” Mims takes a break to take care of his mental health.
The flame will still burn brightly in the short term even if it doesn’t last very long as more and more Valorant fans gather around the human aimbot to watch Shroud do what Shroud does best—clutch battles against all odds and pop some heads.
