STYKO Looks To Donate 20% Of His Sticker Money To Combat Mental Health Issues

Veteran player STYKO, who is currently a part of the Apeks Counter-Strike squad, has taken to Twitter/X to announce that he will give away 20% of his sticker revenue from the first CS2 Major. He is looking to raise awareness about mental health.

How Sticker Money Works

Though STYKO qualified for the PGL Copenhagen Major with Apeks, the European roster faced an early elimination in the opening stage, packing their bags at 20th-22nd place. He and the team will be rewarded with $10,000 in prize money, but the revenue doesn’t stop there. 

Valve always splits revenue gained from player and team sticker sales with all participants at the CS2 Major. In the previous BLAST.tv Paris Major, Valve earned over $100 million from sticker money, split evenly among 24 teams, each receiving over $4 million. 

Though it is unlikely that the Copenhagen Major will chase the record-breaking sales that the Paris Major generated, we are still realistically expecting one to two million dollars for each team for the first CS2 Major. 

STYKO’s Gesture For Mental Health

In his Twitter/X post, STYKO delves into a topic not discussed enough: mental health in esports.

I am going to donate 20% of my personal sticker money from the first CS2 Major.

In recent news, there has been a topic we don’t talk about enough in esports. pic.twitter.com/wz9lr9wv7F

— STYKO (@STYKOcs) March 21, 2024

He begins his announcement by mentioning chasing trophies and winning is the main goal for all players, but the path to victory is not easy. Players, often younger ones, ignore their mental health and well-being to try as much as possible to win.

He then brings up the unfortunate passing of North American Counter-Strike player cynic, who woefully took his own life. Cynic and his team, BOSS, nearly made it to the Copenhagen Major, while STYKO and his team were lucky enough to qualify.

STYKO continues to talk about another recent tragedy: the passing of former Team Vitality VALORANT player Twisten. In this incident, Twisten had all his mental health issues bottled up, not telling anyone about it until it was too late. 

Like the entire esports community, the 28-year-old does not want to see cases like these happen again. As a result, he is taking action and donating 20% of his sticker pay. The first 10% will go directly to cynic’s family to help them cope with their loss. The remaining 10% will go to the Twisten Foundation, a fundraiser hosted by Twisten’s family to help teenagers face mental health battles. 

Mission Complete

After three hours of posting the Tweet, STYKO’s post has already generated over 10,000 likes. The entire comment section is spreading positivity, with numerous organizations chiming in. STYKO is setting a great example as one of the older personalities in the Counter-Strike scene and hopefully inspiring youngsters going through mental health issues that they are not alone. 

Along with the gesture, STYKO encourages the Counter-Strike community to contribute to his goal. Fans can help the project in small ways, such as simply sharing the post. For community members looking to provide financial means, they can purchase the PGL Copenhagen Challengers Stickers Capsule, which contains Apeks and STYKO stickers, which will directly increase STYKO’s earnings from stickers.