The first full Overwatch League roster releases after the season appear to point to the confirmed death of the league. Here's who got cut.
Much like the sadness of the swamps leading heroic horse Artax to his demise in the film The Never-Ending Story, it appears OWL also sinks to its slow death. A glimmer of hope still exists in the league-wide vote by each team to either take a 6 million dollar buyout or remain in the league. However, we have our first signs of orgs taking the money and running with the full Overwatch League roster releases of two teams.
It was three days ago that the eternally cursed Vegas Eternal announced the full liquidation of its active roster. This includes Head Coach Diana “Empress” W, manager Kim “AVALLA” Kyoung-Ey, and its six winless players. However, it was early this morning that the 2021 OWL Champion Shanghai Dragons announced a similar release of its squad.
Editor’s note: We’ll be adding to this piece as teams announce the liquidation of its rosters. See below for full roster announcements.
- 10/9/23, 5:14 p.m.: Houston Outlaws releases roster
- 10/15/23, 5:48 p.m.: San Francisco Shock releases roster, coaches
- 10/16/23, 1:16 a.m.: Seoul Dynasty release roster, staff
- 5:40 p.m.: Toronto Defiant “allow its players to explore free agency”
- 6:00 p.m.: NYXL launches entire team into space
- 9:30 p.m.: LA Valiant roster, coaches released
- 10/20/23, 1 p.m.: Florida Mayhem ‘allow its players to explore free agency”
- 10/28/23, 3:30 p.m.: Hangzhou Spark shuts it all down
- 10/30/23, 3:00 p.m.: London Spitfire releases everyone
Overwatch League roster releases begin
From the full release of its roster in November 2022 as part of its relocation from Paris to Vegas, the Eternal and roster releases have become synonymous. In a calendar year the team has seen a total of 17 players pass through its Overwatch League Roster. This includes a full mid-season purge earlier this year, in which its starting squad was forced to–and failed–to re-audition for their spots.
The full list of roster releases include:
It makes perfect sense that the first Overwatch League roster casualty comes from, hands down, the worst team in OWL history. Yes, even worse than the ‘0-42’ Shanghai Dragons.
Dragons rising
Which is maybe what makes the similar announcement of the Dragons roster so sobering. The greatest glow-up in esports history, the team went from Guiness Book of World Records punching bag to grand champion. The future of the team appeared murky with the falling out between Chinese games publisher Tencent and Activision-Blizzard early this year. With Overwatch 2 unplayable in mainland China, the future of its four Overwatch League teams came into question.
That question is beginning to get answers. The Chengdu Hunters ceased operations before the season started, Shanghai Dragons is a thing of the past, and the Guangzhou Charge are doing… whatever this is.
The full Overwatch League roster release list for the Shanghai Dragons include:
| Gangnamjin | Kang Nam-jin | Support |
| Ir1s | Kim Seung-hyun | Support |
| Fate | Koo Pan-seung | Tank |
| Viper | Lee Jung-woong | DPS |
| Heesu | Jeong Hee-su | DPS |
Houston Outlaws release Grand Finals roster
San Fransisco Shock release roster, coaches
Seoul Dynasty release Overwatch League roster, staff
Toronto Defiant “allow its players to explore free agency”
NYXL launch team into space
LA Valiant releases roster, coaches
Toronto Defiant “allow its players to explore free agency”
Hangzhou Spark shuts it all down
Overwatch League roster: London Spitfire releases everyone
Stay tuned to esports.gg for esports news and OWL roster information.