Cloud9 announced on Friday that they will be pausing their involvement in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive esports until the conclusion of the pandemic.

"At this time, we've made the decision to pause our involvement in CS:GO," the organization explained in a tweet on Friday. "COVID has prevented us from assembling the team in North America as we'd originally planned, and though everyone has worked hard to rise to the challenge, the reality is that remote training isn't conducive to building an organization the way Cloud9 usually does."

They went on to explain, "We remain passionate about competing in CS:GO, and once conditions allow us to work and train in the ways that we know help teams to be successful, we'll return to competitive play. We're grateful to HenryG and to the players for their work over the past few months, we'll be cheering for them in their next endeavors."

According to a report from Rush B Media, who first broke this story, all current C9 CS:GO players have been moved to the bench, and will reportedly be available for transfer to new teams very soon. Rush B also reported that Cloud9's head CS:GO coach Chris "Elmapuddy" Tebbit has been released from the organization, while Henry "HenryG" Greer will be staying on, at least for now.

Cloud9 brought on HenryG as their new CS:GO team manager in 2020. He was tasked with restructuring their Counter-Strike division and building a "superteam" that would lead Cloud9 to the top of CS:GO world. The team he built, however, struggled to find success in the European CS scene. Most recently, they were eliminated in the group stage of the ESL Pro League Season 13 playoffs, after losing a match to MIBR on Wednesday.

While they are leaving the CS:GO scene for now, Cloud9 has made it clear that they intend to return once the pandemic lifts.