Recently Astralis players Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander and Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth decided to take a break from competitive CS:GO citing burn-out as a big factor in their decision. In light of these recent events, Astralis’ Director of Sports Kasper Hvidt released a blog post talking about burn-out in esports, how teams can protect their players and their recent decision to increase the size of their roster.
Hvidt cites the importance of mental and physical health of players as essential to the future of the esports industry. He suggests that teams across different games should also look towards increasing the size of their roster. “Ultimately we would like to see across game titles a full 10 player set-up with an academy team like in the pro League of Legends leagues. It would be a great way of letting talents work in a fully professional environment with access to all facilities, and it would be a smoother transition when substituting players on the A team.”
“We should have done this a long time ago… It is not a healthy industry when teams and players are punished for taking breaks.. or calling players with burn-outs liars.”
We need a change and we will continue to push.
Director of Sports, Kasper Hvidt:https://t.co/fY7rTREkzl
— Astralis Group (@astralisgroup) June 2, 2020
The importance Astralis puts on the mental and physical aspect of their players played an important part in why Astralis has been on top of the charts for so long, says Hvidt. As an example he talks about how Astralis has prioritised certain tournaments in the past, to give their players some much needed rest and time to prepare.
The pressure on a CS:GO player today is inhumane.
Astralis also talk about the taboo that’s put on mental health and how they’ve decided to be open about the growing tendency of players needing the time to recharge and recover. “we need to push for a change in the industry to acknowledge the need for giving players the chance to have a life, to become parents, to rest when they are ill, and to recharge physically and mentally every once in a while. We now hear from other players that they are happy that this taboo is being broken down and we will continue to talk about it.”
To close out their statement, Astralis once more cite the importance of increasing the size of the rosters to allow players to rest more. “Increasing the roster size for the benefit of players, fans and the industry must be the next step.”
Do you think Astralis is right in their approach to this growing problem of burn-out? Join the discussion on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Discord!