Ahead of the Call of Duty League event in London in February, we spoke with Matthew ‘Skrapz’ Marshall to find out about his career and how Call of Duty “flipped his life around.”
Skrapz has never been one to shy away from telling his truth and explaining how much Call of Duty, the community and the esport means to him, and this rang true as he described his humble beginnings in Manchester, England.
Skrapz explains that he started playing Call of Duty with his brother, Bradley ‘wuskin’ Marshall, when they were nine years old, frequently occupying their Dad’s PlayStation at any available opportunity, and it escalated when they finally got their own PlayStation each to stop fighting over the shared console.
He goes on to explain how he attended his first local LAN tournament during the Black Ops 3 season and, just months later, was competing at the World Championship event in Los Angeles, an event he describes as “realizing it could become a thing” for him.
Just three years later, the esport has grown drastically and Skrapz found himself in a position with his brother and breakout star of Black Ops 4 Dylan ‘Dylan’ Henderson as sought-after players with plenty of options – and found themselves representing the UK on the biggest stage with the London Royal Ravens.
Finally, Skrapz talks about the real impact CoD has had on him. “My life’s that good, I don’t think it will ever sink in. I remember having nothing. I can do whatever I want. I get up every day and play a video game and get paid for it. It never will settle in, until I retire. It’s the greatest feeling in the world.”