The Overwatch League offseason has been pretty tough on players and fans recently. A controversial topic has risen to the community with unguaranteed players constantly on their toes to watch out for their contracts. Former OWL player Brandon “Seagull” Larned talked about his take on the recent news, and he might be on to something.
Formerly signed to the Dallas Fuel, perhaps the most OG and popular content creator Seagull tweeted an image of all the pros announced to be a free agent for the 2021 season. He voiced that the league could benefit from a player’s association for the protection and avoid these scenarios of franchises tossing players aside to avoid unnecessary cost.
The Genji-main writes, “OWL desperately needs a players association. With OW2 on the horizon, poor viewership, and a rumored late start to the season (April), teams are incentivized to drop players and save money.” He further adds that the way he sees the current trend, the management simply doesn’t want to spend money on the talent that “might not be talent when OW2 hits.”
The controversy surfaced when the teams had dropped players left and right when the offseason began, and, for some, they even started reconstructing their line when their tournament run ended. To take a small sample, the Dallas Fuel and London Spitfire have mediocre 2020 season. When the offseason started, a combined 21 players were dropped from them. The Houston Outlaws and the Hangzhou Spark both part ways with five players each, and the list goes on.
With the Overwatch 2 coming soon, Seagull pointed out that the teams are cost-cutting talents dip their feet in the new game when it comes out and to avoid talent fees that might not work out for the sequel. Obviously, this is the correct way to handle monetary discussion from a business perspective but could potentially hurt the league overall. For instance, players like aKm and uNKOE have turned their back on Blizzard‘s first-person shooter and are instead actively looking for a team in VALORANT. Gamsu plans to return to his roots with League of Legends.
OWL caster and analysts Andrew “ZP” Rush disagrees with what Larned wrote. “I don’t think that’s what’s going on at all. I think many teams have realized their current core of players won’t bring them to a championship and want to make significant roster changes,” the 34-year old responded. He adds that many teams are looking to spice up their lineup for a fair shot at the 2021 crown.
