In the Season 3 offseason there has been a shift that has started. Previously there were many retirements of players who moved to other games when they left professional play. This was a natural occurrence as players got burned out or lost interest in Overwatch. The community has seen big names this offseason such as Lane ‘Surefour’ Roberts, McGravy, Jehong ‘Ryujehong’ Ryu, and Dusttin ‘Dogman’ Bowerman, as well as a few others that have not officially announced but seemingly have shifted in that direction. Though losing these individuals as players is a big hit; the transition of pro players to content creators, in the end, is a positive for the community.
More content means more conversations and publicity for the game. There are some great Overwatch League and general Overwatch content that is currently being made by the community. There is little other than pro’s youtube channels and their personal streams that are made content-wise by players. When individuals are signed players there isn’t much time to do more. Changhyung ‘Fissure’ Baek was someone who was known after their professional career of streaming games, doing vod reviews, answering questions with no filter. Unfortunately for NA fans most of this content was done in Korean.
The influx of more NA (English speaking) pro players turning content creators will give the community a facelift. It will inject critical discussions of positives and negatives that are from the perspectives of the players. They also have insider knowledge of the organizations and culture that could be shared to better understand some moves/trades/issues that appear. The increase of content will give fans more to watch in the off season, so that it isn’t as if the Overwatch community goes into hibernation until the next season.
Courtesy of Blizzard
The Korean Twitch and Korean Blizzard have done a great job keeping old pros a part of the scene by doing mini-tournaments. This keeps big figures such as Dongjun ‘Rascal’ Kim, Jinmo ‘Tobi’ Yang, ANS, LTJ in the community. These names are what inspires many of the new coming players. To see these players completely leave would be a hit to the community. The addition of many content creator players allows for NA to have the same opportunity. The Overwatch League during All-Stars has an amazing potential segment of content creators playing customs or an all outmatch. It is well-known that the Overwatch community loves nostalgia. These players will be able to help bridge the line between player and content creator like Dogman has been doing on his show.
This also brings a great opportunity to the Overwatch League teams themselves. Before covid hit, there were some teams that were struggling to sell homestand tickets. Content creators that fans previously were not able to meet because of the location in Burbank could be a good selling point.
Many of the Overwatch League players don’t always have time to stream in their schedule. To have a designated Overwatch Streamer would continue to push sponsorships, but also their brand. Gen.G has done a good job with this. Ryujehong, Jinwoo ‘Gambler’ Heo, and Jinhyuk ‘Miro’ Gong are notable Overwatch streams that are or were under the Gen.G brand. The organization took advantage of this and had Miro make appearances not only at the BALA stadium for their team of the day of the event but also in their own content. The San Francisco Shock have also taken this step signing Jeff ‘Emongg‘ Anderson as a content creator and streamer, which shows the slow movement that Overwatch League teams are taking to add this valuable resource to their team.
This step that these players are taking is pioneering another path for players to take. It isn’t just going to another game, coaching, or retiring. They can stay in the community that built them up. It can give them a sustainable way of life that might help the clogging of talent in the Overwatch League with no new teams being added. This is an exciting start that will hopefully grow. It is healthy for the community as well as the game to have more content being created. All the best to these players who are striking out into the world of content creation. If you are interested in supporting any of the creators mentioned above check out their links below.
Dogman: https://www.youtube.com/user/DogmanL4D2
ANS: https://www.twitch.tv/ansansniper
Surefour: https://www.twitch.tv/surefour
McGravy: https://www.twitch.tv/mcgravy
Ryujehong: https://www.twitch.tv/wpghd321
Emongg: https://www.twitch.tv/emongg/
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