Cédric “RpK” Guipouy, a player most known for his time spent on top French teams across Counter-Strike: Source and CS:GO, is coming out of retirement and joining free agency, he announced on Oct. 30.
Le Tank retired as a CS:GO pro in September 2021, months after he was benched by Vitality, and went on to open a garage shop called RpK Motorsport. Today’s news may come as a shock to the community as RpK hasn’t played an official match in over two years and was well past his prime during the end of his stint with Vitality.
It’s unclear what caused RpK to have the desire to go back to competing, but he could have missed the vibes of being a professional player after playing in a showmatch during the BLAST Paris Major in May.
Throughout his career, RpK only competed on French teams and never tried his hand at international squads. If the 34-year-old is only willing to communicate in French, he could have a problem finding a team as the French scene has plummeted over the past few years and the best players from the country are currently playing for international English-speaking rosters such as Vitality, TSM, and Fnatic.
All things considered, though, even if RpK isn’t the most ideal pickup for top teams nowadays, he could try assembling a French squad surrounded by youngsters and pass on some of his experience and teach them the basics of being a CS pro.
Should RpK find himself a new home to play for in CS2, he’ll have the opportunity to win big championships across three CS titles as he lifted trophies in CS: Source and CS:GO. As of now, the only player who’s accomplished the feat of winning tournaments in three editions of CS is karrigan, the in-game leader of FaZe Clan, but the CS2 action has just started.
