Shroud
Grzesiek in 2018
Personal information
NameMichael Grzesiek
BornJune 2, 1994 (29 Years)
Canada
Career information
Games
Playing career2013–2017, 2022–present
Team history
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive:
2013–2014Slow Motion
2014Exertus eSports
2014Manajuma
2014compLexity Gaming
2014–2017Cloud9
Valorant:
2022Sentinels
Career highlights and awards
Twitch information
Channel
Followers10 million[1]
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2014–present
Subscribers6.79 million[2]
Total views1.05 billion[2]
100,000 subscribers2017
1,000,000 subscribers2018
Last updated: 6 August 2023

Michael Grzesiek[3] (born June 2, 1994), better known as Shroud (formerly mEclipse[4]), is a Canadian streamer, YouTuber, former professional Valorant player, and former professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player. As of April 2022, his Twitch channel has reached over 10 million followers, ranking as the eighth most-followed channel on the platform,[5] and his YouTube channel has over 6.79 million subscribers.

Career

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Grzesiek started his Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) career with several ESEA teams, particularly Exertus eSports and Manajuma. He was soon signed by compLexity Gaming as a stand-in, and later by Cloud9 in August 2014 when they acquired compLexity's roster.[citation needed] He helped lead Cloud9 to a first-place finish at ESL Pro League Season 4 in 2016.[3] He stepped down from the starting roster in 2017 to move to full-time streaming for Cloud9.[6]

Streaming and content creation

On April 18, 2018, Grzesiek left Cloud9 and officially retired from professional CS:GO.[3]

On March 10, 2019, Grzesiek reached 100,000 Twitch subscribers, gaining another 14,000 the next day, making his subscriber count more than double streamer with the second most at the time—TimTheTatman.[7] He continued to stream full-time on Twitch until October 2019, when he announced his move from Twitch to Microsoft streaming platform Mixer. He would be broadcasting exclusively on Mixer, following the steps of fellow streamer Tyler "Ninja" Blevins, who announced a similar deal earlier that year.[8]

On June 22, 2020, Microsoft announced that it would be shutting down Mixer and instead partner with Facebook Gaming. It was alleged that Grzesiek received an offer from Facebook that would have financially exceeded that of Mixer. Grzesiek declined the offer and received the remainder of the current contract payout.[9]

On August 11, 2020, Grzesiek announced that he would return to stream exclusively on Twitch.[10] His first stream back the following day peaked at over 516,000 concurrent viewers.[11][12]

Valorant

On July 8, 2022, Grzesiek signed with Sentinels as a player for their Valorant team.[6]

Personal life

Born in Toronto, Canada with Polish heritage, he has been living in the United States for several years. In 2021 he purchased a $9.4 million house in Los Angeles where he currently lives with his girlfriend, Hannah Kenney, aka Bnans.[13]

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Result Ref.
2017 The Game Awards Trending Gamer Nominated [14]
2019 Esports Awards Streamer of the Year Nominated [15]
The Game Awards Content Creator of the Year Won [16]
2020 10th Streamy Awards Live Streamer Nominated [17]
2021 11th Streamy Awards Live Streamer Nominated [18]
2022 The Streamer Awards Best FPS Streamer Nominated [19]
Gamer of the Year Won
2024 Nominated [20]

See also

References

  1. ^ "shroud - Statistics". Twitch Tracker. Archived from the original on October 20, 2020. Retrieved February 1, 2022.
  2. ^ a b "About Shroud". YouTube.
  3. ^ a b c Tsiaoussidis, Alex. "Shroud officially retires from competitive CS:GO, leaves Cloud9". Dot Esports. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  4. ^ Livingston, Christopher (August 3, 2018). "Ninja becomes the first Twitch streamer to reach 10 million followers". PC Gamer. Retrieved July 9, 2022.
  5. ^ "Top 50 Twitch users sorted by Followers - Socialblade Twitch Stats …". March 26, 2021. Archived from the original on October 20, 2020. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  6. ^ a b Robertson, Scott (July 8, 2022). "He's back: Shroud joins Sentinels' VALORANT roster". Dot Esports. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  7. ^ "Shroud surpasses 100,000 Twitch subscribers". Dot Esports. March 10, 2019. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  8. ^ "Twitch megastar Shroud is joining Ninja on Mixer as an exclusive streamer". The Verge. October 24, 2019. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  9. ^ "Microsoft just released top streamers Ninja and Shroud from their contracts as it shutters Mixer, after spending millions on exclusive deals with them". Business Insider. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  10. ^ Park, Gene (August 11, 2020). "Shroud is returning to Twitch". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  11. ^ Lee, Julia (August 12, 2020). "Even Shroud is shocked at his Twitch viewer count after returning". Polygon. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  12. ^ Esguerra, Tyler (August 12, 2020). "Shroud's first stream back on Twitch watched by over 500,000 viewers". Dot Esports. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  13. ^ "Shroud's new US$9.4M mansion makes him neighbors with Kanye and Drake". oneesports.gg. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
  14. ^ Alexander, Julia (December 7, 2017). "The Game Awards crowns The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild best game of 2017". Polygon. Archived from the original on December 8, 2017. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
  15. ^ "Esports Awards 2019". Esports Awards. April 26, 2021. Retrieved July 9, 2022.
  16. ^ Goslin, Austen (December 13, 2019). "All the winners from The Game Awards 2019". Polygon. Archived from the original on December 13, 2019. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
  17. ^ "10TH ANNUAL NOMINEES & WINNERS". Streamy Awards. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
  18. ^ Spangler, Todd (October 20, 2021). "YouTube Streamy Awards 2021 Nominations Announced, MrBeast Leads With Seven Nods". Variety.
  19. ^ Miceli, Max (February 22, 2022). "All nominees for QTCinderella's Streamer Awards". Dot Esports. GAMURS Group.
  20. ^ Michael, Cale; Taifalos, Nicholas (February 18, 2024). "Streamer Awards 2024: All results and winners for every category". Dot Esports. Gamurs. Retrieved February 18, 2024.

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