Participants play Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty: Black Ops III game during the E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, California.
Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg | Getty Images
A 25-year-old professional video game was forced to retire due to a thumb injury.
Thomas “ZooMaa” Paparatto announced that he is “taking a step back from the competitive Call of Duty” on twitter.
“This is the most difficult thing I have ever had to write. I am stepping down and I will not compete in the competitive Call of Duty for the foreseeable future,” he said in a separate blog post.
“It breaks my heart to leave a game where I put my heart and soul every day for eight years,” he added. “Tearing up just writing this, but I don’t know what else to do at this point.”
Paparatto plays for a sports sports team called the New York Subliners and has won $ 387,019 in 87 tournaments, according to Esports Earnings. His biggest single tournament prize came in April 2018, when he won $ 53,125 in a Call of Duty: Cold War II competition.
The American player battled the weakness of his thumb and wrist a few years ago while playing a game called FaZe Clan. He had to undergo surgery as a result.
“Going through this process of health recovery was one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do, both physically and mentally, which led to a lot of stress and anxiety,” he said. “Unfortunately, the injury has returned, making it very difficult for me to compete at the highest level against some of the best players in the world.”
He said that playing with the pain in his hand “is simply no longer possible” and that he does not like to compete when he cannot be the “ZooMaa that everyone knows and loves”.
Fans and other players shared their support after their announcement.
Many professional players train or compete for more than 10 hours a day, and some of them earn more than $ 1 million a year in the process. However, physical and mental wear and tear on the body can sometimes result in health problems.
Sam Matthews, founder and chief executive of Fnatic, told CNBC in December: “These people are in good shape and healthy, but there is always an anomaly in the rule.”