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They All Started With Retro Games But Left the Biggest Impact in Esports

  • PRG

Some of the most influential figures in modern esports didn’t grow up with high-end PCs or competitive titles. They started on old consoles, arcade machines, and games that most people have long forgotten. That foundation shaped how they think about competition, how they read opponents, and how they connect with audiences. The names below built careers that changed what esports looks like today, and it all started somewhere far simpler.

Tarik Çelik 

The first one on our list is Tarik Çelik, the most notable Valorant gamer. As can be seen in this interview, Tarik’s Twitch following is around 3.3 million, and he has won many major awards.

Tarık Çelik grew up playing games long before Valorant existed as a concept. His early years were shaped by titles with simpler mechanics and slower pacing, the kind of games that teach patience, pattern recognition, and map awareness rather than raw mechanical speed. 

When he transitioned to streaming, he didn’t simply carry his competitive reputation into content creation. He rebuilt his identity around something different: watch parties, community interaction, and the ability to make any tournament feel like an event worth watching. 

During major VCT tournaments, thousands of viewers choose his stream over the official broadcast. He explains plays clearly, keeps energy high through slow stretches, and creates a shared viewing experience that no official production has matched. His YouTube channel has surpassed 1 million subscribers, and in March 2024, he set an all-time peak of over 313,000 concurrent viewers on Twitch. By any measure, Tarik’s contribution to Valorant’s growth as a spectator sport is unmatched by that of any other individual streamer.

Faker 

Lee Sang-hyeok, known globally as Faker, started gaming on older titles before finding League of Legends at an age when most competitive players were already established. His early exposure to games that demanded precision and quick decision-making gave him a foundation that translated almost perfectly into mid-lane play at the highest level.

South Korea’s dominance in League of Legends didn’t happen in isolation; Faker was the visible proof that Asian esports infrastructure and player development worked. His influence pushed other regions to examine their own systems and invest more heavily in talent pipelines.

Beyond competition, Faker changed how the general public perceives esports athletes. He was one of the first players to receive coverage typically reserved for traditional sports stars: stadium appearances, brand endorsements, and national media attention. He made it impossible for mainstream outlets to dismiss esports as a hobby rather than a profession.

Shroud 

Michael Grzesiek, known as Shroud, came up during an era of games in which precise mouse control was the defining skill. Before CS: GO made him a known name in the competitive scene, he was grinding through older titles that rewarded mechanical accuracy above almost everything else. 

That background is visible in everything he does on stream: his movement, his crosshair placement, and his decision-making all carry the fingerprints of someone who learned the fundamentals before the meta even existed.

His transition from a professional CS:GO player to a full-time streamer created a new content category. Shroud wasn’t just a retired pro playing casually. He brought genuine elite-level skill to every game he touched, which meant audiences watching him play a brand-new title were seeing a masterclass rather than an entertainment performance. When he picked up Valorant early in its life cycle, his streams helped define how the game was perceived during its most critical growth window.

Shroud’s long-term contribution to esports is the audience he built between competitive titles and casual viewers. He made high-level play watchable and approachable at the same time, which expanded the total audience for competitive gaming in a way that purely professional content never could.

Ninja 

Tyler Blevins started with fighting games and older platform titles before Battle Royale formats existed. Ninja’s appearance on mainstream television, his collaborations with musicians and athletes, and his record-breaking streams during Fortnite’s peak period dragged esports into conversations unrelated to gaming. 

His career also demonstrated the commercial ceiling for individual streamers, which influenced how platforms structured deals and how organizations valued content creators alongside traditional competitive rosters.

s1mple 

Oleksandr Kostyliev, known as s1mple, grew up in an environment where older competitive shooters were the standard entry point. The mechanics he developed in those early years (reading angles, managing utility, understanding positioning) carried over directly into his CS:GO career, where he became the standard by which every other player in the game was evaluated.

s1mple’s contribution to esports is largely technical. His gameplay forced analysts, coaches, and developers to reconsider what was possible within a game’s existing framework. 

Rounds he won through individual performance alone reshaped how teams approached anti-strat preparation. His influence on how the game is analyzed and broadcast runs deeper than his individual statistics suggest.

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