The MVP of the 2022 Apex Legends Global Series Championship and conceivably one of Apex’s most significant players is giving up the keyboard and mouse. FURIA’s elimination from the 2023 ALGS Split Two playoffs prompted Jacob “HisWattson” McMillin to declare his retirement from competitive gaming today.
HisWattson will of course be remembered for FURIA’s whirlwind run through the North American Last Chance Qualifier and on into the 2022 ALGS Championship. The team made waves when they unexpectedly shifted HisWattson into the IGL role in favor of long-time shot caller Will “TeQ” Starck, and he almost single-handedly revealed to the world just how powerful Seer could be in the right hands and in the correct meta. FURIA ran over the competition with a second-place finish overall, while HisWattson took home the MVP award thanks to his performance on Seer.
2023 has been a different story for FURIA, however. After failing to qualify for the Split One Playoffs, the team exited in 37th at the Split Two Playoffs. HisWattson subsequently revealed that he had been thinking of stepping down from the team for a while and that he hadn’t been enjoying competing.
“Even when we were winning, I still wasn’t having fun,” HisWattson said in his post. “…over time, me not having enjoying it has made my skills deteriorate to the point where I’m no longer content and just want to go back to what made me the best and the happiest I’d ever been: Spamming ranked like a degen and being a goofball on stream.”
He noted that he’ll remain with FURIA as a content creator. Despite the Split Two Playoffs not being over yet, he said that he wanted to announce his decision as soon as possible to give teammates Nelson “Xera” Medina and Scott “Pandxrz” Maynard and coach Sealion as much time as possible to find a new teammate for the 2023 LCQ.
Both Xera and Pandxrz have proven alongside HisWattson that they can compete with the best players in the world, but the hunt will be on for a new teammate that can help FURIA get back to their best.
As for HisWattson, he’ll ride off into the sunset with his stream in tow. We might not ever see him piloting Seer in an ALGS match ever again, but if there’s anything that’s certain, it’s that he’ll be blitzing through ranked lobbies in no time.