Jay “sinatraa” Won spent all of 2019 cementing his place as the best Overwatch player on the planet but yesterday he announced he’s quitting the game all together to play Valorant, a game that’s still in beta.

Overwatch is Blizzard’s sort of fun hero shooter that is a flat out terrible esport. The 6v6 melee makes it impossible to discern what is actually happening on your screen. Plus Blizzard only releases new heroes once in a blue moon and instead of balancing the game play they flat out ban half a dozen heroes from being played in the Overwatch League (OWL) on any given week.

To put this into perspective, OWL is an almost $500 million esports league. The original 12 owernship groups paid a $20 million franchise fee while the 8 expansion teams reportedly paid between $30-$60 million franchise fees. Sinatraa leaving to play Valorant isn’t like Jordan leaving to play baseball. Sinatraa didn’t get his father killed due to gambling debts which earned him a shadow ban from the NBA, he’s simply leaving because the game sucks. To add insult to injury, sinatraa is leaving a $500 million league to play a game that is not only still in beta but it doesn’t even have any competitive leagues yet.

Which is why it’s so hilarious that Blizzard somehow finessed Robert Kraft (yes that Robert Kraft) and other super rich people (e.g. Stan Kroenke)  into paying that $20 million franchise fee. I have my doubts Mr. Kraft has Boston Uprising matches on the TV when he is at his local rub n tug let alone that he even knows they exist. Luckily the $20 million on top of however many more millions he’s invested are just a drop in the bucket for ole Bobby.

The OWL isn’t officially dead yet but when it is we’re going to look back at (actually I may just forget this shitty esport existed all together) their GOAT leaving as the point when their death became unofficially official. But I’m not going to celebrate an esport league failing, I’m bigger than that. I realize that all 28 OWL fans are mourning right now and I’m going to let them enjoy what little time they have left watching their horrible esport.

Ben Durham
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