“One last dance, ladies and gentlemen. This will be my final year competing as a professional Call of Duty player.” It was a brief statement posted to an unsuspecting but somewhat expectant Twitter. With those words, Seth ‘Scump’ Abner announced that, after a decade of competing, he will be retiring from Call of Duty esports in 2023. It was a shocking revelation for fans around the world, and while many may have seen it coming, hearing Scump announce his retirement is still incredibly impactful.
For years, Scump has been a constant in the world of competitive Call of Duty. He’s a bonafide world champion, a Call of Duty gold medalist, boasts thirty chips, and has earned more than one million dollars competing in Call of Duty. It’s a franchise that resonates with everything Scump does, from the popular content he creates to the players he inspires. This final season for Scump marks the thirteenth consecutive Call of Duty title he’s competed on.
But it all ends here.
Nobody Does It Better
With 2.64m YouTube subscribers, 1.3m Twitch followers, and an audience of 2.2m users on Twitter, Scump is, without any shadow of a doubt, one of the most popular esports competitors on the planet. He’s a legend of the game with a prestigious and prolific career, most of which was spent flying the OpTic Gaming banner. Once upon a time, Scump was a pivotal part of arguably the most impactful Call of Duty dynasty to ever exist.
If that wasn’t enough, Scump proved in 2021 that he’s a multi-platform competitor, winning the inaugural ‘SOLO YOLO’ portion of the World Series of Warzone. For that accomplishment, Scump netted a $100k prize, further boosting his already impressive financial gains. He’s a veteran of the industry, and with the following that he has already secured, he’s made for life as a content creator – or for however long he decides to stick at it.
In a statement posted to Twitter, Scump explained why he’s retiring:
‘I just think that… My time and my effort and my energy, one last season is pretty much all that I’ve got left in my tank, in terms of just my mental… All that stuff. I think that I have one more good year to give to, not only myself, but my teammates, first and foremost, my coaching staff, my amazing partners, the people I work with at OpTic, and you guys, the GreenWall.’
With OpTic, Scump became the king of Call of Duty.
Recently, Scump revealed his engagement to his long-term partner, Isabelle. In his retirement message, he highlighted that Call of Duty esports are so competitive that there’s little time for anything else, so it comes as no surprise that he’s stepping back from actively competing to focus more on his home life at this point. But, with there being one more season in the tank, there’s every opportunity for Scump to give the Call of Duty League one last fiery fight, and potentially walk away on a huge high.
Thank you, Seth.
