The Vancouver Titans have had a rather tumultuous season so far in the Overwatch League. Despite reaching the Grand Finals last season in dominant fashion they’ve been plagued with challenges to start their 2020 campaign. No team appears to have been impacted more by the switch to an online only environment than the Titans with the team moving to the Asian division of Overwatch League to try and allow players to compete from their homes in South Korea.
However, there were reports that many of the Titans players were unhappy with management throughout this process and rumors that the entire Grand Finals roster could leave if something didn’t change. On Wednesday the Titans made a decision regarding these rumors and put out a statement. It was as many feared. The Titans roster is undergoing a complete overhaul.
With the organization unable to meet the players expectations in Korea, and after much deliberation and conversation with the players, the difficult decision was made to move the team back to the North American division and both the players and management agreed that finding a new home for the players would be in everyone’s best interest.
The following players/staff have since agreed to mutually part ways with the team:
HyoJong “HakSal” Kim
Minsoo “Seominsoo” Seo
Seongjun “Slime” Kim
Chunghee “Stitch” Lee
Juseok “Twilight” Lee
JeHong “RyuJeHong” Yu
Yangwon “Yang1” Kweon (coach)
Jae Hong “Andante” Hwang (coach)
The team has also released Chan Hyeong “Fissure” Baek.
From all of us at the Vancouver Titans organization, we would like to thank these players and coaches for the positive memories we’ve had, of course highlighted with an appearance in the Overwatch League Grand Finals in our first season. These players were able to leave a lasting impression on fans from around the world. We wish them all the best as they move on in their careers.
This is extremely unfortunate. The Titans had the potential to be one of the best teams in Overwatch League with this roster and it really does feel like this is only happening due to circumstances out of everyone’s control. The miscommunication issues that the Titans and the players are having is largely due to the players being in Korea and the team being based in Vancouver. Obviously even in an online based eSport there are still going to be challenges when you have to deal with such as timezones and the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic effecting everywhere differently. Hopefully, this does end up being the best result for everyone.
These are all extremely talented players and I expect to see most if not all of them on rosters again. Maybe even within this season. The Titans, on the other hand, have a difficult task ahead of them. They need to re-create their entire roster and quick now that they’ve moved back over to the North American division. Putting together a team that can compete at an elite level while also accounting for team chemistry and fit is going to be quite a task. Let’s see if they can pull it off.