This is a translation of a recent DES article on Snow's retirement and his plans for the future. In short, he had a hard time with the SC2 transition, and plans to study for college admissions with no intention of returning to progaming. I'm posting this in the BW forum since I suspect BW fans probably followed his career more closely.
Recently retired CJ Entus progamer Jang Yoon-Chul (Snow) has stated, "Unlike my teammate Kim Jung-Woo (Effort), I will not be returning to progaming after schooling".
Currently, Jang Yoon-Chul is working part time at a coffee shop in Bulgwang-dong. He has many preparations to make in order to start studying for college entrance exams. In addition to lacking education due to not completing normal schooling, there is much information to go through before starting the process. He works his part-time job while sorting out these issues.
Jang Yoon-Chul had considered retirement for a long time. After the switch to StarCraft 2 (SC2) he spent a lot of time practicing but was unable to adapt well. As a player specializing in beautful shuttle harassment and unit control, he found it difficult to find his place in SC2, which emphasized production and army composition.
However, Jang Yoon-Chul found it difficult to go through with retiring. Although Lee Gyeong-Min (Horang2) and Shin Sang-Moon (Leta), both key players on CJ, had already retired, Jang Yoon-Chul believed that retiring without a strong effort would be the same as running away.
Even after switching race from Protoss to Terran, Jang Yoon-Chul was unable to adapt to SC2. He had always wanted to go to college after ending his progaming career, and currently plans to study in a computer science-related field in order to gain some technical skills.
Although his teammate Kim Jung-Woo had previously returned to progaming after retiring once to prepare for college entrance, Jang Yoon-Chul has emphasized that there is little chance of him doing something similar. Since Kim Jung-Woo retired at the peak of his career, he was still able to deliver good results after returning, while Jang Yoon-Chul has been having significant difficulties adapting to the new game prior to his retirement.
He states, "I wish to greet the e-sports fans once again after achieving success outside of progaming," and thus, "right now, I am dedicating myself to college admissions".
Thank you so much for this! I don't know why his retirement really affect me emotionally. I think he was just so brilliant and fun to watch in brood war. Its hard not to be angry at sc2 seeing him forced to retire. I truly hope he can find happiness in his studies. You will be missed snow <3
Sad news. I can't watch I've watched a lot of his BW games but even with that, I still knew who he was and have seen his really amazing reaver micro. All the best to Snow! Wish he would play in SSL on the side of studying :/ Thanks juki!
His MSL series against Jaedong will always be remembered as one of the great series in Broodwar. I hope he's able to transition into normal life smoothly.
It would amazingly if we had sea,leta, snow, killer, pusan, ssak, movie, hero, hiya, tyson, shuttle and TIGERTOSS all playing again, and in the SSL *_* (i can dream)
Thanks for the translation. Snow had so much potential and was really showing it at the end of BW. His semi finals vs Jaedong was so good. It's sad, he deserved to have a great career.
I thought Horang2 was streaming on Afreeca. Anyway I wonder if Leta retired and is out of the CJ house, or is coaching. Haven't heard from him at all, although I recall seeing him at a recent Proleague match.
I didn't know for Leta. Kinda sad news for but finally I'm happy for them : SC2 isn't professionally as interesting than BW in Korea. Also thank you for the translation.
As I previously said, I'm sure he will do fine with his college admissions. Being a progamer takes as much dedication as being a good university student
"As a player specializing in beautful shuttle harassment and unit control, he found it difficult to find his place in SC2, which emphasized production and army composition." so true lol.