S1mple’s $149 CS2 class refunded after “scam” lessons taken down

People who purchased access to the Play Like S1mple club and educational program for $149 claim they have started receiving refunds for their purchases and the video tutorials are now private.

Oleksandr ‘s1mple‘ Kostyljev and ESL FACEIT Group launched the Play Like S1mple project on June 3 as an educational project for Counter-Strike 2. The product featured lessons from the player and other guests, show matches, community tournaments, and “other activities.”

“Along with the educational part of the lessons, I want to build a real connection with my people, which means you can look forward to different online and offline activities for the members,” s1mple said on social media.

By purchasing the course, players would have access to its over 70 educational videos, monthly tournaments, a private Discord channel, “personal communication” with s1mple “and his friends,” and access to private streams for a year.

Just over a month after its launch, though, the project and its courses have all but shuttered. While the courses can still be purchased, buyers have reported receiving refunds and S1mple’s lesson videos are now private.

Users in the project’s public Discord server, users mentioned that lesson videos were suddenly private on July 17. The first report of refunds being sent out 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 did not submit a request to get their money back.

Some users also claimed they never received an invite to the promoted private Discord with s1mple.

The project’s social media pages have not posted anything since June 6, and the NAVI player has not said anything about the apparent closing of his course. His latest social media post at the time of writing was on June 15 about the Copa America final.

The quality of the courses was criticized during its initial tease in May, as people found the first lessons not worth the $149 price.

“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. Before that event, s1mple had been away from competitive CS2 since October.