Damon "Karma" Barlow retired from professional Call of Duty on Wednesday. He is widely regarded as the greatest Call of Duty player of all time and is the only player to have won three Call of Duty championships, two of which came back-to-back (2013, 2014, then 2017).
"I would like to thank everyone that helped me on my journey. First and foremost to my wife Holly and my daughter Bella who motivate and inspire me every day," Karma wrote in his Twitter statement released by his most recent team, the Seattle Surge. "To my teammates throughout the years including my teammates on the Seattle Surge. To all the fans that have followed me throughout my entire career from my three championship seasons through to today with those in the city of Seattle I'd like to say thank you for your support as I enter the next chapter in my life. I wish the best to the Surge organization and thank them for their understanding and guidance through this tough decision."
In addition to his statement released by the Surge, Karma tweeted about his choice on his personal account.
it was my choice this time and I'm happy with it.
— Damon B (@DKarma) June 4, 2020
"I think this was something I needed to do a while ago," he tweeted. "Game wasn't really catered to me." In his tweets, Karma added that playing Modern Warfare wasn't fun for him, he had zero desire to play the game, and that he thinks Seattle will perform better without him. He also said that he won't be back because new Call of Duty games are only fun for about a month before he grows tired of playing.
Karma began playing competitive Call of Duty in 2010 when he was 17. He retires with 24 major championship wins during his tenure on multiple organizations, most famously Evil Geniuses and OpTic Gaming long before the Call of Duty League was formed this year. Karma earned the nickname "three rings" due to his three titles.
Currently the Seattle Surge are ranked 11th out of 12 total teams in the Call of Duty League, with 40 total league points.