Ninjas in Pyjamas’ Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team is moving on without veteran Patrick “es3tag” Hansen.
“In preparation of the next year we’ve been evaluating the team composition overall, and have moved Patrick “es3tag” Hansen to the bench, and are allowing him to explore new opportunities ahead of the 2023 season,” the team posted to Twitter on Wednesday.
“Patrick has been a fantastic team mate, colleague and player to have at NIP. We have nothing but good things to say about him, and we are sure he will find success where ever he goes next.”
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We have moved @es3tag to the bench and have allowed him to explore his options. pic.twitter.com/DtUe5JKn0T
— NIP CSGO (@NIPCS) December 21, 2022
The move is the latest roster shuffle for the Swedish organization, which is coming off inconsistent back-to-back seasons.
Recently, Ninjas in Pyjamas added Fanatic’s Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin and Aleski “Aleksib” Virolainen from G2 Esports, saw Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz depart for Astralis and benched Nicolas “Plopski” Gonzalez Zamora after three seasons with the squad.
“Benched by Ninjas in Pyjamas,” es3tag tweeted Wednesday. “A bumpy road, but I’m standing here at the end, proud of what we’ve accomplished. I will be taking my time to properly gauge what’s next for me. Wishing the best for my teammates and NiP, it’s been a ride I’ll always remember.”
The 27-year-old Dane has played professionally since 2015. He joined NIP in November 2021 after time with organizations that include Heroic, FunPlus Phoenix, Astralis, Cloud9 and Complexity Gaming.
The other current players on the NIP roster are Fredrik ‘”REZ” Sterner and Hampus ‘”hampus” Poser.
–Field Level Media