Veteran professional Call of Duty player, Ian ‘Enable’ Wyatt, has announced his retirement from the esport, and revealed he’ll pursue a competitive career in Warzone.
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In a year that’s already had Call of Duty legends such as Damon ‘Karma’ Barlow and Jordan ‘JKap’ Kaplan call it quits, the competitive scene now sees another one of its biggest names hang up the sticks.
Enable announced his retirement on November 11 via an emotional YouTube video; “It’s the right time, it’s the right move. I’m retiring from professional Call of Duty.”
“It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while. When you’ve been doing something for as long as I have, you got to know when it’s time to start something new, to refresh yourself, refresh your mind, because this is all I’ve ever done.”
Despite retiring from the traditional competitive CoD scene, Enable isn’t going anywhere and has instead announced that the next step of his career will be playing Warzone, Call of Duty’s popular Battle Royale variant, as well as a “great” opportunity that he will speak about at a later date.
“I definitely will be competing, just not in another game,” he said. “Next year, along with the opportunity I’m going to take, I plan on competing in Warzone. I want to give it a shot, it’ll be something I’ll be able to take seriously, I’ll be able to compete – have some sort of competition, which is what I need. I’m definitely not fully gone but it won’t be what you guys are used to.”
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As for whether he’ll ever return to pro-CoD, the 26-year-old isn’t ready to completely close that chapter yet: “I don’t want to say there’s no chance; at this point in time, I think I’m done for good but I won’t say there’s a 0% chance. If the opportunity is right and it makes sense, then I will come back and compete.”
Enable made his professional gaming debut in 2006 and would spend the first several years of his career as a Halo pro, competing for teams like Dynasty and Status Quo.
Enable competed for several tops teams during his 7-year career, including FaZe, 100 Thieves, Team Kaliber, and even OpTic Gaming. pic.twitter.com/ZgqvHDrhqd
— DEXERTO Call of Duty (@DexertoIntel) November 11, 2020
He made his transition to Call of Duty in late 2013, and in the seven years that followed, Enable featured for some prominent teams, including FaZe Clan, 100 Thieves, Team Kaliber, Evil Geniuses, and even OpTic Gaming, to whom he was loaned out to for a couple of European tournaments.
After CoD esports’ switch to franchising and the CDL in 2019, he was picked up by the Seattle Surge but ultimately got demoted to the bench after a slow start to the season. Prior to his announcement, it was rumored that 100 Thieves were considering Enable for their vacant fourth starter position, but he shut that down shortly after LA Thieves was announced.
His accolades include eight major tournament victories, back-to-back second-place finishes at the CoD World League Championships in 2018 and 2019, and a third-place finish at the 2015 Champs.