Fnatic, Dignitas, and LG Loyal teams to be jettisoned

Per sources in each organisation, the rosters formerly representing Fnatic, Dignitas, and LG Loyal will no longer be part of their respective organisations. This news follows the announcements of Splyce, TSM, Red Reserve, and compLexity as organisations begin to take a step back and evaluate their investments in Overwatch.

Fnatic and Dignitas will release their players as free agents in 30 days, a source from each team told us, as the organisations both recently broke the news to players. It has not yet been announced whether these two organisations intend to return to Overwatch when the scene develops or will stay interested in OWL. Players from all three teams have been reportedly involved in discussions about building future rosters.

Fnatic parted with Hafficool and Vonethil three weeks ago. The team reportedly signed Realzx as a replacement Lucio but were still trialling Talespin and one other unnamed player for the DPS slot. The new additions to the team are not expected to continue with the original core; it is unknown as yet what the core four players will decide to do from here. At time of publishing, Fnatic management had not responded to a request for comment.

Of the three teams here no longer continuing under their organisational banner, Dignitas had been the most successful recently. The team looked promising in their Overwatch PIT Championship run, storming through the lower bracket to take out NiP and Misfits then almost beating eUnited for a place in the final. The team was notably absent from both TaKeOver 2 qualification tournaments. At time of publishing, Dignitas management had not responded to a request for comment.

Dignitas have had the core of their team under contract since August 2016, though they have only recently had a resurgence to the top of Europe after slumping throughout the latter half of 2016. The former roster is not expected to continue together, though players are reportedly in talks to rebuild a European roster.

LG Loyal are also no longer representing Luminosity Gaming. The organisation is, however, keeping hold of their more successful North American sister team, LG Evil. That team is currently deciding whether or not to keep the name LG Evil or revert to Luminosity Gaming now that the organisation only has one roster, according to a player in the team.

It is not yet known whether LG Loyal were dropped by the organisation, chose to disband on their own, or contracts simply expired. The players are reportedly searching for future opportunities and are not expected to stick together as a unit. At time of publishing, LG management had not responded to a request for comment.

The positive side of all of this turbulence in the scene is that it gives teams and players an opportunity to rebuild stronger teams, unbound by contracts. With the Overwatch League (and some form of combine) approaching, a new wave of talented teams may emerge.

We will update this article with responses from the organisations should they reply to the requests for comment.