The French Counter-Strike community has lost Malek “maleK” Bennouioua, a former professional player and popular content creator. He was 35 years old.
maleK was well known on the French CS scene since the days of Counter-Strike: Source and later continued his career in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. He primarily competed at the French level and was known as an in-game leader (IGL), a player responsible for tactical decisions and coordinating his team during matches.
maleK began his professional career in the early 2010s. In CS:GO, he played for several French teams, including beGenius ESC, Platinium-eSport, and Epsilon France. At various points in his career, he also represented other teams from the French subtop scene.
One of the notable stages of his career came with beGenius and Epsilon. Alongside his teams, maleK competed in French national tournaments and LAN events, including ESL Championnat National and DreamHack Tours.
Among his results were a third-place finish at DreamHack Tours 2018 BYOC and a second-place finish at ESL Belgian Championship Winter 2018 with Epsilon.be.
His professional playing career came to an end in the late 2010s, after which maleK turned his focus to content creation.
Following his retirement from competitive play, maleK became more widely known through his Counter-Strike streams and videos. He remained an active member of the French CS community and continued creating content for his audience.
According to French esports outlets, his YouTube channel had more than 130,000 subscribers, while his Twitch account had around 155,000 followers.
maleK will be remembered not only as a former professional player, but also as one of the notable French Counter-Strike content creators who remained connected to the scene after ending his competitive career.
According to reports from French media, an incident involving a 35-year-old man occurred in Aix-en-Provence on the evening of September 26. Police and the RAID special intervention unit were called to the scene, after which the man was taken to hospital, where he later died. French and esports sources have linked the incident to maleK.
The news prompted reactions from members of the French Counter-Strike scene and his former colleagues.
maleK leaves behind a long history in French Counter-Strike — from the competitive scene to building a large audience on streaming platforms.