s1mple leaves NaVi after nine years, announces what’s next

Esports organization NaVi has shocked CS2 fans by announcing that Oleksandr “⁠s1mple⁠” Kostyliev is leaving the organization after nine long years, and the legendary pro player already has plans made for his next stop.

s1mple is one of the best and most decorated professional CS2 players in the world. The Ukrainian player has won 17 notable trophies and 21 MVP medals during his time at the top of the game. s1mple was recently in the news for hinting that he may start doing gambling streams when he leaves NaVi, but on July 28, NaVi surprised CS2 fans by tweeting that s1mple had decided to accept an offer from another team and was leaving the organization effective immediately. Fans instantly began to speculate about s1mple’s next move, but they didn’t need to wait long, as his new team has now been announced.

Where is s1mple going after leaving NaVi?

s1mple has announced that he is joining BC.Game on a permanent transfer after leaving NaVi, as he’ll be replacing the benched AWPer Tim “⁠nawwk⁠” Jonasson.

BC.Game announced in a tweet that s1mple has joined the team’s CS2 roster, with the caption “Welcome to the new era.” The legendary player will be taking over the team’s AWP duties from nawwk, who was benched six months ago. NaVi’s contract with s1mple was slated to conclude towards the end of 2025, but the player and team have ended it early as he joins his new squad.

BC.Game ranks 66th on the global VRS, so s1mple won’t be competing in the top-tier like he’s used to, making this a marked change from his time spent with NaVi, FaZe Clan, and even Team Liquid many years ago.

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Fans are divided on s1mple’’s surprising move and are questioning why he would choose BC.Game. The team is significantly less successful than NaVi. BC.Game and its players will need to massively improve to compete at high levels of play similar to NaVi or s1mple’s recent temporary home of FaZe Clan. s1mple tweeted that BC.Game is serious about entering tier one play and that he himself may prove to be the change the team needs.

The CS2 player had stepped down from the NaVi roster in October 2023, citing a need to “fix documents and take care of other people in his life.” He has returned to competitive play twice since then while on loan from NaVi. First with Falcons in 2024, and later with FaZe in 2025.

NaVi stated in its own announcement that it had received multiple offers for s1mple following the BLAST Austin Major where he showed good form with FaZe. The Ukrainian organization had forwarded all of these offers to the player, who ultimately decided to move to BC.Game.

NaVi expressed appreciation for s1mple’s monumental work with the team, specifically noting the victory at PGL Major Stockholm and an Intel Grand Slam in 2021. The team stated that the player is the GOAT who inspired many other players with his impressive journey through CS2 esports. Time will tell whether the unexpected combination of s1mple and BC.Game Esports can stand as a continuation of that journey.