In the face of adversity, Taiga held on to his love for competitive Dota 2, returning to the scene in a different region with Bleed Esports for the 2024 season. But his comeback only lasted three months, as the Norwegian player announced his retirement today.
Taiga left Bleed after a series of bad results in December 2023, and he has been without a team ever since. While retiring from Dota 2 tends to be a huge move, Taiga’s new career path overshadowed this decision. Taiga shared that he’s becoming a full-time streamer, both on Twitch and Kick, the latter of which is known for gambling streams.
At the start of 2023, Taiga publicly discussed his battle with gambling addiction. Since his retirement announcement came alongside a move to Kick, many Dota 2 fans are also concerned about Taiga’s well-being.
Several Dota 2 personalities moved to Kick in 2024, and the community hasn’t appreciated the change so far. Arteezy left Dota 2 fans with mixed feelings after his Kick deal led to gambling streams, and many players also stopped following streamers from Twitch to Kick, causing their viewership numbers to drop drastically.
Though Taiga ended his competitive career, he’s been on a roll in Dota 2 ranked matches. The experienced position four won almost 1000 MMR, grinding from 10,000 to 11,000 points in the last ten days—an admirable achievement. Taiga’s currently ranked 176th in the European Dota 2 leaderboard, and if he ends up pushing for one of the top slots during his streaming journey, he could convince himself to return competitively.
Competitive Dota 2 retirements have a tendency to be short-lived, as veterans find it hard to resist being away from the stage. Chinese legend Ame returned to competitive Dota 2 for the 2024 season after a retirement that looked like a final decision, so anything is possible in the world of the Ancients.
