Overwatch League Punishment Wave Sweeps Pro Teams

Seven professional Overwatch players have been hit with punishments today, as the Overwatch League brings their new Discipline Tracker online. Four of the punishments came for “boosting”, while the other three were for other offences.

“As players join the Overwatch League, the league office conducts a full review of their conduct and, where appropriate, takes disciplinary action,” a League representative wrote in their announcement post. “While the league reviews each case on its own, key factors informing the level of discipline include both the severity and recency of the actions under review. During the season, the league office will continue to evaluate infractions and take action as needed.”

Damon "Apply" Conti of the Florida Mayhem, Kelsey "Colourhex" Birse of the Boston Uprising, Shilong "Krystal" Cai of the Hangzhou Spark, and MinKi "Violet" Park of the San Francisco Shock were the four players punished for boosting. Won-Jae "Rise" Lee of the Guangzhou Charge was fined for account sharing, Riku "Ripa" Toivanen of the Los Angeles Gladiators was suspended for throwing matches and toxicity, and Se-Hyun “Neko” Park of the Toronto Defiant was suspended for selling an account and obstructing the investigation.

We’ve already seen that in Korea, boosting is now an official crime, meaning that these players have technically gotten off light with just a few game bans. Whether or not more players will be targeted by Blizzard in the near future remains to be seen, however as outlined in the announcement, “The following list does not include players who are not currently under contract with an Overwatch League team but might face suspension or fines should they return to league play. In addition, players who have previously served penalties while playing in Contenders are generally not subject to further discipline upon joining the Overwatch League.” This would likely mean that someone who was previously punished by Blizzard outside of the Overwatch League may face additional punishments should they sign with a team.