Another FRAG Co-founder announces departure

Stephen "sasquatcH" Csikos has announced via Twitter that he has moved on from Nerd Street Gamers, the company that runs Fragadelphia, as of the 17th of October. The news comes merely a day after Edward "NVS" Nieves also announced that he will be parting ways with NSG on the 8th of November. While it is unclear what has led to two integral members leaving the company within a day of each other, neither NVS nor sasquatcH have announced what the future holds for them in the esports space.

With its first iteration taking place in March 2014, Fragadelphia has grown to become an integral part of the North American Counter-Strike ecosystem. Fragadelphia 17, which took place in September, yielded the highest prize pool to date with EG Black claiming the lion's share of the $100k purse. Not only has the cash prize for competing at Frag grown, but also the level of competition, with international sides such as Apeks and BIG Academy venturing across the Atlantic just to compete.

Fragadelphia has worked with Nerd Street for several years with them only recently coming under the Nerd Street fold completely. Many will remember that sasquatcH would run the entire Fragadelphia event out of his personal finances with sponsors. Dust2.us would like to wish the "Grandfather of TriState CSGO" all the best in whatever the future holds for him.

Dust2.us reached out to Nerd Street CEO John Fazio who provided the following statement:

We share the same vision for the future of amateur esports, we just had a difference of opinion on how we get there. Our roots come from building in-person local gaming communities and connecting them on a national scale. During the pandemic we adapted to move our offerings online and scaled up our content offering, but now we're getting back to our roots with a laser focus on local in-person gaming.

I have nothing but respect and reverence for both Steve and Ed, and I'm confident that we'll continue working together in various fashions given their prominence in the esports community. This wasn't a hostile or friendship ending move, it was just simply professional differences we couldn't overcome. I'm sure you'll be seeing them both at future Nerd Street events.

Steve and I are going to continue collaborating on producing Fragadelphia. You can expect Frag to continue as is with both Steve and Ed continuing to play the role they always have there. We'll have updates as soon as possible as we finalize those plans. Frag isn't going anywhere.