The competitive scene of Overwatch continues to spiral down into darkness as two more professional teams have decided to call it quits.
Earlier this week, North American esports organization Evil Geniuses decided to drop its Overwatch roster of players after signing them just a couple of months ago. According to an announcement made on its official website, there were “synergy” problems between the players and “a dialogue” made it apparent that the team could not continue.
Just days later another professional team called it a day. Posting on its official website, European esports organization Team LDLC announced that the contracts of its players expired at the end of June and will not be renewed.
The decision is backed by the disappointing results in the Overwatch Contenders qualifiers and “the strategic choice of Blizzard Entertainment, which don’t [sic] help clubs like ours to continue to invest in this game.”
Effective immediately, all the former players have entered free agency. Only Guillaume “KabaL” Ettori will stay back to join the staff of the organization. It is not clarified as to whether or not he will continue to play competitively in the time to come.
Several major names in the esports industry have disbanded their Overwatch teams in recent months. This includes Fnatic, Team Dignitas, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Luminosity, CompLexity Gaming, and Splyce.
There is concern about the high cost of entry to the Overwatch League, which is rumored to be far too high for most organizations. Those who are unable to invest face problems because they are unable to rely on the limited third-party competitive scene. The lack of events make competitive Overwatch not viable from a financial standpoint.
Blizzard is expected to drop concrete details about the Overwatch League soon. It already issued a statement in May to curb some of the misunderstandings running rampant.
