Alex Wright interviews UK CSGO player Owen “smooya” Butterfield after he won the Gfinity Elite Series Season 1 with Epsilon Esports.
The full video interview and a selection of quotes can be found below.
On winning the grand final
“I predicted it. During my pre-game interview I said we’d beat them 3-0 and have a 16-1.”
“I have flamed Prophecy quite a lot. But I know all of them. There were expected to do well, they weren’t expected to win it. They did better than I thought they would because they took down EnVyUs, which helped us!”
On the Elite Series and if smooya liked it being broadcast on TV
“Yes and no. Last week when we won the first map, we had to wait three hours for it to be on BBC. That was the only bad thing.
“And the first week was bad, but then they changed it and it was so good for every week after that.
“But the format is really good. As people are playing on stage, you’re allowed to [go backstage and] warm up. Then they constantly bring people in – I think that’s a really smart idea, you can get at least an hour and a half or two hour warm up.”
On whether he’s had offers from other teams
“I’ve had a few offers. I got an American offer and a Chinese offer. But I will 100% be here for season 2.”
On the UK scene
“We’re not good enough. Within CS, it’s bad… we have no one to teach us how to play.
“All we need to do to get better is to have five players that stick together for longer than two months, and if they were to watch two demos a day, sit in Teamspeak and watch why they do stuff, we’d get better. No one wants to do it.
“I was planning on doing it with Team Endpoint before I got picked up with Epsilon, we were gonna have a team house and stuff.
“The Elite Series hasn’t done wonders for the UK scene, it’s folded a lot of teams. But some good teams are gonna come from it because it’s a lot of money. The UK used to say if we had money we’d be better, but that isn’t true at the moment.
“Maybe if we get more money then… we’re only getting little salaries at the moment. You can’t play full time on £500 or £600. You can’t play full-time on that can you.
“But if you’re getting £1,500, you can all play full-time and actually want to win.”
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
