OpTic’s Scump and Karma highlight equipment issues at CWL Champs

OpTic Gaming stars Seth ‘Scump’ Abner and Damon ‘Karma’ Barlow highlighted a huge equipment issue at CWL Championships – with their controllers not acting as they should – prompting Karma to consider retirement. 

The final event of the Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 season concluded on August 18, with eUnited cementing themselves in history with a first-ever CoD World Championship. As ever, plenty of focus was put on OpTic Gaming but the team could only manage a third-place finish. 

While the legendary team didn’t have many excuses for their performance, Karma and Scump noted issues with the third-party Cronus’ – a USB controller add-on that players use instead of the standard PS4 pad. It is such an issue that it could push the three-time three-time world champion into retirement. 

The only three-time CoD world champ could call an end on his Call of Duty career.

In his first post-Champs loss tweet, Karma admitted that he didn’t quite step up with a top individual performance but his controller issues didn’t help – while also hinting at possibly retiring if similar issues arise moving forward.

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“I didn’t play well this event but I’m not going to lie, if next year is played with a fucking 3rd party POS Cronus, I’m out,” he posted. 

The Canadian even doubled down on those retirement claims when former OpTic Gaming Halo star Tony ‘Lethul’ Campbell admitted that he ‘felt bad’ for CoD pros using “janky shit like that.”

Karma responded: “Since Black ops 3. I’m done with that shit man. If I’m on a team I’m not using it and if I can’t I’m quitting.”

Barlow’s post prompted long-time teammate Scump to jump in, criticizing the third-party controller add-on for somehow changing between games – helping in one match-up, while failing in the next.

The former Call of Duty World champion tweeted: “Lmao. Auto aim one series. None the next! Splendid!” 

However, it wasn’t just the OpTic boys who were out to make their voices heard on the unusual controller issues.

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UNITS’ SMG player Joseph ‘Joee’ Pinnington chimed in, replying: “Turn up for some games and have no chance before the series has started I’m convinced.” 

Whether or not Karma should harbor concerns about third-party controllers being used in competitive Modern Warfare remains to be seen considering the game has cross-play with PC players.

Nobody is quite sure what the future holds for competitive CoD with franchising just around the corner, so it’s a case of wait and see for everybody involved.