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During the offseason, the Overwatch League lost a handful of mainstay on-air talent, including Christopher “MonteCristo” Mykles, Erik “DoA” Lonnquist, Auguste “Semmler” Massonnat, Chris Puckett, and Malik Forté. Now, some of these former OWL personalities have spoken up after the league’s vice president Jon Spector made comments in a recent interview with ESPN Esports regarding the shift in broadcast talent.
In the interview, ESPN’s Jacob Wolf asked Spector about the recent changes to the OWL on-air cast, to which he replied that the league would benefit from working with professionals who “live and breathe [Overwatch].”
Montecristo responded that the league was simply covering up “poor management and decision” at the expense of those who had “put everything they had into the league.” He ended his comments with a warning to others, claiming that this is how Blizzard treats those leaving the company.
Others, like DoA and Semmler, also had strong opinions of Spector’s comments. DoA deemed Spector’s response as “veiled insults” and mentioned he had moved across the world to work with the league. Semmler was equally as critical of the comments, saying that Blizzard had lowballed its casters because of their hold on the Overwatch scene, as well as some casters’ dependence on them for working visas.
This comment references reports from Dexerto that Blizzard was going to cut caster’s pay by 30 percent, even after a relatively successful inaugural season. Other members of the crew said in the report that it was “clear that the leadership have zero to very little respect for the broadcast talent.”
The OWL is in the middle of its opening weekend, where several new faces have taken up the casting reins. The league will continue until the end of the regular season on Sunday, Aug. 9, 2020.
