Karma lays out conditions to return for CoD 2020

Call of Duty legend Damon ‘Karma’ Barlow has explained his steps following retirement, saying that coming back and playing is a “last resort” but that he still wants to have some ties to the CoD scene. 

On June 3, Karma shocked the Call of Duty competitive scene by announcing that he would be retiring after a glittering career. The three-time CoD world champion bid his goodbyes to the Seattle Surge and has moved into streaming.

Since the switch, he’s proceeded to run wild in Warzone and voiced his opinions on the current crop of Call of Duty League players as well as Modern Warfare.

While his dislike of the current title is clear, some fans still want to see him return and light up the stage as he did for the likes of Fariko and OpTic Gaming. It appears, though, that he doesn’t intend on doing so.

During his second appearance on Hector ‘HECZ’ Rodriguez’ Eavesdrop Podcast, the Canadian shed some light on his retirement and his next steps – including the possibility of returning with the launch of the next Black Ops games.

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“Right now, like I’ve said and I’ve told my stream this, I’m going to try streaming at least until the season is over,” Karma said, noting that is all “going pretty well so far.” Though, he would still like to have some ties to competitive CoD moving forward.

“I definitely would be interested in coaching. Playing though, that’s like a stretch. Theres too many variables,” Barlow added.

“Streaming is definitely the number one priority and then streaming and possibly coaching because I do want to stay and have some ties to Call of Duty in some way, and I feel like it’s a way I could be impactful.”

As for keeping those ties, Karma again added that coaching is a possibility but playing is pretty far down the list of things he wants to do.

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“I would like to coach but playing, playing is like last resort – I don’t know,” he said. “I’d have to be blown away and I’d need a good f**king team to ask me to play but there’s no way. I don’t see any of that happening.”

The 26-year-old did also note that he’ll play the next CoD release because he still loves the series but he also wants to play other games – which is what streaming allows him to do. 

So, if you’re hoping to see Karma pick up the sticks for one last dance in the Call of Duty League, don’t hold your breath: it seems as though he really is done for good.