Even when the writing was on the wall, sad news hurt doesn’t any less.
On Monday June 20, GGRecon’s Sascha “Yiska” Heinisch released a report noting that the Chengdu Hunters are officially out of the Overwatch League. The report comes after a comment from the Overwatch League revealing to GGRecon that the Hunters have exited the league due to a “shift in their overall strategic objectives”. The Chengdu Hunters become the first team to leave the Overwatch League entirely.
With the cat out of the bag, the Overwatch League felt it was time to add one more nail in the coffin. A few hours after the report the Overwatch League revealed that the Chengdu Hunters will no longer have their skins in the Overwatch 2 store. Thats right: players will no longer have the option to purchase Hunters cosmetics after July 6.
The news is heartbreaking for those Hunters fans that were still holding on hope that they would return in 2023. At the beginning of the season, the OWL announced to fans that the season would start without the Hunters. Chengdu failed to sign a complete roster before the deadline, hinting that they would not be competing in the sixth season of the Overwatch League. As time passed it became more and more evident that the Chinese team would be out of the league permanently.
[Related: The Overwatch League to Start Without the Chengdu Hunters for the 2023 Season]
The league now heads into the second half of its sixth season with 19 teams. The APAC region now hosts only seven teams where the West features the remaining twelve. The top Contenders teams from Contenders Korea and Contenders APAC will join the Overwatch League teams for the back half of the year to account for the missing franchise.
Featured image courtesy of the Overwatch League
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