This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.

　　Yaroslav 'NS' Kuznetsov. Photo Credit: Virtus.proVirtus.pro confirmed the news today that their former Dota 2 captain Yaroslav 'NS' Kuznetsov has announced his retirement from professional gaming after losing motivation and desire to play the game. Kuznetsov intends to remain in eSports under a different role rather than a player.

　　Virtus.pro also confirmed in the news post that the services of Vladislav 'Blowyourbrain' Morozyuk who has been playing with the team on a probation basis would be no longer required leaving the team with only three confirmed players.

　　Kuznetsov released a long statement on the official Virtus.pro site with the reasons behind his retirement:

　　"This decision isn't anyhow connected with our recent result at TechLabs, Korea or any online tournament. I have been thinking about changing something for the last 2-3 weeks, so I gave myself this trial period to check if that was the temporary motivation fall which can often happen to any player with experience of about 10 years. But it happened to be a different thing: I feel myself differently, I almost lost my passion to Dota as a game, I am not getting any emotions for playing in tournaments, it doesn’t matter to me if I won or lost. There is no point in continuing my career, because I don’t have any emotions, passion, it’s a dead end for a player.

　　I sincerely tried my best for the last 1.5 years when I was in Virtus.Pro. I feel sorry, that we couldn’t win any major title, but we always fought and were close several times. I can’t reproach myself when I leave now and this should be the main thing for a person who gave all his forces and soul to something he worked on. Thanks to everyone who supported me and Virtus.Pro all that time. Your support made us going on and on, I am sorry I couldn’t match your expectations.

　　Finally, I sincerely wish my guys to fix the roster and start showing great results! I am not sure where I am going now, I got some interesting offers. Of course, I will try myself in esports, but if it won’t work, I’ll go somewhere else. So, I won’t say “Goodbye”, I’ll just say “See you”."

　　Thanks to ingik for the translation.The team will now start trialling a number of new players in the hopes of finding the replacements required in order to bring the team back into the main Dota 2 scene.

　　Current Virtus.pro Lineup

　　Sergey 'Smile (Ars-Art)' Revin (Captain)Dmitriy 'LighTofHeaveN' KupriyanovSergey 'God' BraginTBATBA