The Overwatch League's Vancouver Titans have dropped their entire roster mid-season
They claim it's due to complications from the coronavirus pandemic
Looks like there's trouble in paradise at the Overwatch League, as the Vancouver Titans have released their entire team roster right in the middle of the 2020 season. In a letter to fans they explain the decision stemmed from issues with the League's online matches, after homestands were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This unfortunately put the team in a weird position, being based out of Vancouver but having a roster made up entirely of South Korean players.
"At the start of the season the team and the organization’s spirits were at an all-time high," they wrote. "The team was ready to avenge their Grand Finals loss and contend once again for an Overwatch League championship."
As the coronavirus situation worsened, however, rather than keep the Titans in their training facility in Vancouver, they were sent back home to South Korea to be with their families. From then, the plan was to get them to play in the Asian division, but it appears that led to even more problems.
"The time difference made it difficult for management and the home fanbase to connect with the team and technical challenges for the players playing from home further exacerbated the situation.
"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 team will be announcing their new roster of Titans in the next few days - awkward timing as they have scheduled matches against both Washington Justice and Flordia Mayhem this weekend. Here's hoping they're not going to force a mishmash of new teammates to try and form a cohesive team without actually having a chance to train together first.
ESPN reported the Vancouver Titans would be signing the roster of the Contenders team, Second Wind. But they do point out that a handful of those players aren't actually old enough to play in the Overwatch League. It'll be interesting to hear what their plan is with that one.
There's no news yet what the former Titans will get up to now, maybe we'll see them make the move over to Valorant like former OWL star Jay "Sinatraa" Won.