Following a stunning performance at the HCS World Championship, Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper has secured a rather unique milestone. He is officially a member of a very small club – one that consists of just two players (at present). As of October 2022, FormaL is one of just two players to secure a world championship title in two different esports games. He retired from actively competing in the Call of Duty League last year, opting instead to make a grand return to Halo esports.
It proved to be a shrewd move for FormaL, one of the most iconic FPS competitors of all time. He’s had a banner few months, securing the HCS Orlando Major and the HCS World Championship while flying the flag of OpTic Gaming. Coincidentally, it was also with OpTic that FormaL picked up his Call of Duty World Championship title, way back in 2017.
If that wasn’t impressive enough, the other member of that super-exclusive club boasts an almost identical record.
Multiple Titles, Multiple Talents
Shotzzy was a pivotal component in Dallas Empire’s success in 2020 (Image Credit: CDL)
It’s another OpTic competitor that joins FormaL at the top of the table – Anthony ‘Shotzzy’ Cuevas-Castro. Like FormaL, Shotzzy has secured a world championship title in both Call of Duty and Halo esports. In 2020, Shotzzy was a part of the Dallas Empire squad that secured the top spot at the inaugural Call of Duty League Championship event. In 2018, he won the Halo World Championship while flying the Splyce banner, before retiring from Halo and moving over to Call of Duty esports.
There’s something of a mirror image between the tales of these two iconic players. At present, it seems as though there’s plenty in store for both competitors. While FormaL is hot off a world championship victory, he’s already preparing to continue that momentum into the Halo Championship Series 2023 season. From Shotzzy’s perspective, the year ahead is unwritten – earlier this year, he claimed a Major victory with OpTic Texas, and by mid-December, the 2023 season will be in full flow.
If you’re eager to learn more about Shotzzy, find out where he ranks in our breakdown of the best COD players ever.
Of course, there’s every opportunity for a wealth of esports competitors to travel from game to game. It’s no big secret that many games share elements and mechanics, but, as you can tell from the facts written above, very few players have managed to truly make it big on more than one platform.
But that doesn’t mean that they’re not actively trying to cross over.
Change Isn’t Always a Bad Thing
Nitr0 went from CSGO, to VALORANT, then back to CSGO. (Image Credit: 100 Thieves)
There are quite a few esports players out there that have crossed over into another game and performed relatively well. It’s only Shotzzy and FormaL that have secured a world championship title in two different esports games, but other players have admittedly come quite close.
For instance, one important player to ‘switch sides’ was Nicholas ‘Nitr0’ Cannella, one of the many competitors to switch from CSGO to VALORANT. As a CSGO esports player, Nitr0 enjoyed a successful career, securing the top spot at numerous high-tier events, before transitioning into a VALORANT roster in 2020. He was able to snatch up a $40,000 VALORANT prize at the First Strike event soon after making the move.
Since the start of 2022, Nitr0 has returned to competing in CSGO esports tournaments.
If there’s another iconic name we can drop, it’s Harrison ‘psalm’ Chang. In 2019, Chang finished in second place at the inaugural Fortnite World Cup, landing behind Kyle ‘Bugha’ Giersdorf and securing $1.8m in prize money. Before that, Chang was an active esports competitor focused on Heroes of the Storm, a game that netted him almost $100,000 in prize money. He’s trying to take it one step further at present, now focusing on VALORANT, but aside from local wins, he’s yet to see as big a return on his in-game talents.
Which world-famous esports player will be the next to secure a world championship title in two games?