People who paid $149 for access to the Play Like S1mple club and educational program are reporting that they have begun receiving refunds, and the video tutorials have been made private.
Oleksandr ‘s1mple‘ Kostyljev and ESL FACEIT Group launched the Play Like S1mple project on June 3 as an educational initiative for Counter-Strike 2. This program included lessons from s1mple and other guests, show matches, community tournaments, and various other activities.
“Besides the educational aspects, I aim to build a genuine connection with my audience. Which means there will be various online and offline activities for members,” s1mple announced on social media.
Purchasers of the course gained access to over 70 educational videos, monthly tournaments, a private Discord channel, “personal communication” with s1mple “and his friends,” and exclusive streams for a year.
However, just over a month after its launch, the project and its courses are almost entirely shut down. Though the courses remain available for purchase, buyers have reported receiving refunds, and s1mple’s lesson videos have been set to private.
In the public Discord server for the project, users noted on July 17 that the lesson videos had been suddenly made private. The first reports of refunds appeared on July 22.
“I got issued a refund, so I think they are just refunding everyone and moving on,” one Discord member said, explaining that they had not requested a refund.
Some users also mentioned that they never received an invitation to the advertised private Discord with s1mple.
The project’s social media accounts have been inactive since June 6, and the NAVI player has not commented on the apparent closure of his course. His latest social media post was on June 15 about the Copa America final.
The quality of the courses was criticized early on, with some finding the initial lessons not worth the $149 price tag.
“No hate but imo it’s a pure scam, I’ve seen better guides for free on YouTube for newbies and semi-advanced players,” one user said in the public Discord.
The Ukrainian pro last played a professional Counter-Strike match in June with Team Falcons at the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown. Prior to that event, s1mple had been away from competitive CS2 since October.