Kevin “PewPewU” Toy has announced that he is stepping away from competitive Super Smash Bros. Melee in order to take on a marketing position at Counter Logic Gaming.
PewPewU uploaded a YouTube video on March 12 explaining his decision to shift his focus away from competitive Melee. While he is now looking to pursue a career on the business side of esports, he does not intend to leave the Melee scene completely.
PewPewU said that he hopes for the Smash World Tour to be his “last rodeo” for serious Melee competition. Even so, he intends to continue attending tournaments, albeit much more sparingly than before and with less pressure to excel. Like Adam “Armada” Lindgren, who formally retired from Melee in 2018, PewPewU expects he will compete in Doubles more frequently than Singles going forward.
“I can first-handedly guarantee to you all that I can still, on any given day, come back and beat your favorite player in Doubles,” PewPewU said in a video announcement uploaded to Twitter by CLG.
PewPewU will still work for CLG, the organization he had been with as a pro player since 2015. He began his position as Senior Coordinator of Marketing and Team Operations for CLG on March 9.
A look back at PewPewU’s Melee career
PewPewU began playing Super Smash Bros. Melee competitively as a 12-year-old in 2006. As a result, he has spent more than half of his life competing in the game. About a decade after his career began, PewPewU peaked at No. 10 in the world on the Summer 2015 SSBMRank.
Since then, PewPewU has been a perennial top 25 player. Over the past several years, he has beaten some of the best Melee players of all time, including Joseph “Mang0” Marquez, Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma and Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman.
In addition to his Singles career, PewPewU makes up half of the PewFat Doubles team, along with Zachary “SFAT” Cordoni. The duo is arguably the best Super Smash Bros. Melee Doubles team of all time. They haven’t missed top eight at a tournament since January 2012, and they haven’t missed top four at a tournament since February 2015. Furthermore, PewFat has won 33 notable Doubles tournaments, including a streak of 12 consecutive wins from April 2018 to March 2019.
Smash community responds to PewPewU’s new role
Many members of the Melee community have responded with encouraging words since PewPewU announced his decision to step back from competition. Zain Naghmi, Melee’s incumbent best player, called PewPewU an “absolute inspiration.” Notably, PewPewU pioneered the pivot to tipper forward smash technique with Marth in his set against Hungrybox at Apex 2015. Zain later used this very technique to win his first major tournament over Hungrybox at Shine 2018.
Avery “Ginger” Wilson similarly called PewPewU a “legend” and wished him luck in his endeavors going forward. Meanwhile, SFAT poked fun at the new job of his longtime friend and teammate.
