Shroud explains why he rebranded his logo for Twitch return

Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek made his long-awaited return to Twitch with a new look. No, it’s not his goatee, but a new logo. The old “S” branding is gone, with the streamer saying his new “minimalistic” look is going to “fit better” with his grand plans.

Shroud’s return stream to Twitch has been the source of much fanfare in the gaming community. After being forced off Mixer due to the platform’s shutdown, the former CS:GO pro went silent for weeks as he planned out his future.

Then, the cryptic teasers came. The streaming star put out two tweets featuring Valorant gameplay on a gun on July 30 and August 4. A third teaser came on August 8, featuring a pistol assembling itself.

The full announcement on August 11 marked his return to Twitch, less than 12 months after he left for Mixer. He “came home” to the streaming platform where it all started, although there were a few big differences from when he left.

One, he was rocking some facial hair. While shroud has typically always been cleanly shaved, he’s decided to rock a new goatee ⁠on broadcast. One can hope isolation hasn’t gotten to him yet.

• Read more: Everything you need to know about shroud’s return to Twitch

The second is that he’s got a new logo. Gone is the wraith “S” of the old Shroud logo. A new logo, featuring a stylized spelling of “shroud” and an arrow pointing at a reticle. It’s a much simpler design that the previous one, even if it loses a bit of that old flair.

Some people in his return stream joked that he had to change logos because it was “stolen” by Omen from Valorant. Shroud dismissed that ⁠— ironically enough while playing a game of Omen. “‘Did you rebrand because Omen stole your logo?’ What the hell, no,” he said.

The streamer admitted the major reason he changed his branding was because he has “a lot of plans” he wants to execute on in the coming years, and his new logo will just “fit better.”

“I have a lot of plans for this year, and next year, and the year after that. I’ve got a lot of big plans ⁠— very big projects that are going to take years.

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“I just think this brand, this logo, is a little bit more iconic, a little bit more minimalistic, simple, clean. It’s just nice. It fits better on merch, it fits better on product, whatever. That’s it.”

It might be a new logo, but it’s still the same shroud everyone knows and loves. He will be sliding back into his regular streaming schedule on Twitch over the coming days, but if you want to catch his return stream, you can here.