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.

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:

Kim Hyeong-woo
Support
Kyle Rakauskas
Support
Lim Hyeon-woo
Tank
Lee Seon-woo
DPS
Jesse Palomo
DPS
Lim Jung-woo
DPS

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:

Kang Nam-jin
Support
Kim Seung-hyun
Support
Koo Pan-seung
Tank
Lee Jung-woong
DPS
Jeong Hee-su
DPS

Houston Outlaws release Grand Finals roster

Oh Se-hyun
DPS
Euiseok Lee
Tank
 Shu
Kim Jin-seo
Support
Jungwoo Lee
DPS
Park Min-ki
Support
Shin Se-won
Tank

San Fransisco Shock release roster, coaches

Oh Se-jin
Support
Kim Dong-hyun
DPS
 MAX
Choi Su-min
Tank
Park Jun-bin
Tank
Jung Jun-young
DPS
Luke Fish
Support
Steven Saucedo
Support
Kwon Nam-joo
DPS

Seoul Dynasty release Overwatch League roster, staff

Kang Jun-woo
Tank
Jeong Young-hoon
Support
Hwang Gyu-tae
Tank
Lee Ji-han
DPS
Jun-Woo Park
Support
Junyoung Park
DPS

Toronto Defiant "allow its players to explore free agency"

ID
Name
Position
Isaiah Rodriguez
DPS
Colin Arai
Tank
Benjamin David
Support
Majed Alrashied
Support
Go Dong-woo
DPS
An Gi-beom
Support

NYXL launch team into space

ID
Name
Position
Niclas Jensen
DPS
Maximilian Otter
DPS
Kim Min-jae
Tank
Yunhee Chi
Support
Kim Young-wan
Support
Christian Han
Support
Kim Dong-eun
DPS
Haley Hamand
Support
 Lep
Joseph Cambriani
Support

LA Valiant releases roster, coaches

ID
Name
Position
Alex Taylor
DPS
 NOS
Brandon Zepeda
DPS
Domenic Akrawi
Tank
William Ohlstein
Support
Nolan Edwards
Support
Christopher Smith
Support

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.