Chengdu Hunters leave the Overwatch League

The Chengdu Hunters have finally decided to cease all operations and announced their official departure from the Overwatch League after several months of pause.

Many months ago, the team announced the disbandment of its squad and did not participate in the Overwatch League 2023. However, neither the players nor the organization communicated about it, so no one knew what was happening.

In the last few hours, a statement has been published where the organization states that they are closing all their doors and that they are out of the OWL.

Chengdu Hunters close doors and leave the OWL

According to an official statement published by the web portal GGRecon, the Chengdu Hunters decided to cease operations as an organization and officially leave the Overwatch League. This marks a major milestone within the Overwatch competitive scene, as it is the first franchised organization to say goodbye to the OWL officially.

The @ChengduHunters have exited the @overwatchleague 🐼

The team did not field a roster for #OWL2023 and were omitted from the schedule announcement. Today, a spokesperson confirmed they are the first team to exit the league.

📰 Read More: https://t.co/ksed6zlDQd pic.twitter. com/sruoQtCX75

— Overwatch Cavalry (@OWCavalry) June 20, 2023

A spokesperson for the OWL told GGRecon that The Chengdu Hunters exited the OWL. In addition, the organization also stated that they are making changes to their goals and now have other plans for the future.

As we mentioned, this franchise, owned by HUYA, a platform similar to Twitch and Kick, did not announce its lineup for OWL season 6. As a result, the team did not participate in this edition of the league, so they were also not within the official announcements by the OWL in April 2023. In addition, the organization, at the time, stated that they were planning a new direction for their team.

Chengdu Hunters completely disappeared

All the fans of the team and the OWL were pending about the future of the organization and the reasons why they are not participating in the OWL 2023. However, their Twitter account has been inactive since January 2023, so it’s complete silence from the team. Even their last Tweet referred to the closure of Overwatch 2 in China, referring to the non-renewal of the agreement between Blizzard and NetEase.

Goodbye and see you again. pic.twitter.com/rNzukKbYBU

— Chengdu Hunters (@ChengduHunters) January 23, 2023

Chengdu Hunters entered the OWL in the 2020 season with an “expansion” team, but they managed to qualify for the playoffs in their first season by finishing inside the TOP 12 in the regular season. However, their subsequent performances were not positive, and their road ended badly.

In 2021, the team had a spectacular rebirth under Huang “Leave” Xin, who won the regular season MVP, leading his team to finish within the TOP 6 of the tournament. However, after the announcement of Overwatch 2’s departure from China, the Chengdu Hunters players decided to switch to Hangzhou Spark.

Header: Chengdu Hunters | Blizzard