London Spitfire's Cutting of Birdring (And Others) Shows the Need to Stay Ahead in Overwatch League

Fans may have been surprised to learn the winners of the Overwatch League's Inaugural Season, the London Spitfire, released multiple players Thursday, including Jihyeok "birdring" Kim, Jongseok "NUS" Kim, Heedong "Guard" Lee, and coach Jeong-min" Jfeel" Kim.

Perhaps the most puzzling decision from afar was cutting birdring, one of the team's founding players who became one of the staples of the franchise. Before the cut, the team had even achieved better records than almost every Overwatch League team and most notably won the Season 1 championship.

Christopher "MonteCristo" Mykles, an analyst and commentator in the league, agreed with the decision made by the London Spitfire, saying on Twitter: "After two years of working with these players/coaches, they have had their chance to improve and failed," saying that the team is due for a rebuild.

Player turnover like this is common throughout all esports, not just Overwatch. Simply put, the reason is average results simply don't cut it in this industry.

Owning and operating a team is extremely expensive, especially in the Overwatch League where it costs $20 million just to get a franchise. Expenses include player and staff salaries -- which can reach six figures per player -- and maintaining state-of-the-art training facilities. With the ludicrous amounts of money it takes to run a team, it's easy to see why franchise owners and investors would want to see their money and hard work be put into successful teams, not just mediocre ones.

As pointed out by MonteCristo, who was previously a co-owner of esports organization Renegades, the level of talent on Spitfire was not proportional to the mediocre results they had been producing outside of their first place finish. Their peak performance warranted better pay, of which they were rumored to have some of the largest salaries in the league, in addition to improved facilities. However, their poor consistency made it hard to justify continuing the support they had been giving, and changes to the roster were clearly necessary.

So take it from the London Spitfire; even after securing a first-place trophy, a team has no room to be complacent. They must continue to produce high-level results. If a team falls out of form and into a slump, it must improve and recover quickly or risk losing the faith of the organization, which is not afraid to make drastic changes if it means the potential for improved results.

As professional players, they should have the hunger to always keep improving and always reach for the number one spot. Anyone that can't keep up gets left behind, and those that can get ahead and remain at the top get rewarded.

Photo Courtesy of the London Spitfire