The Overwatch League has gone through many changes in the off-season like adding new teams and shuffling around players. Gong “Miro” Jin-hyuk, the South Korean main tank who made Winston popular back at the 2016 Overwatch World Cup, is one of the latest players to be moved around. He has made the decision to take a break from competitive Overwatch after being released earlier this month.
The Seoul Dynasty also released Choi “Wekeed” Seok-woo, and Moon “Gido” Gi-do in addition to Miro. Although it seemed likely that Miro would be immediately picked up by another team, given his experience and talent, he has decided to devote his time to streaming for now.
According to Dot Esports, Miro commented on the matter personally while streaming.
“I thought about it a lot, discussed it with people,” he said. “Some people said it was a good idea, other people asked me if I wouldn’t have any regrets, after all I’ve done in pro-gaming. I want to give myself a pat on the back for what I’ve done so far.”
Miro has been involved in the competitive Overwatch scene since way back in 2016, when he used to play with Lunatic-Hai—the team who eventually became Seoul Dynasty. Lunatic-Hai won two seasons of APEX, the world’s biggest Overwatch competitive league before the Overwatch League, and has won the Overwatch World Cup twice with South Korea.
However, Seoul Dynasty did not perform well in Season 1 of the Overwatch League, and the signing of Chan-hyung “Fissure” Baek to Seoul’s roster indicated a change in the direction for the team. Although Miro must have been upset with the decision to release him, he seems content to follow in the footsteps of ex-Dallas Fuel flex DPS Brandon “Seagull” Larned, who recently made the transition from competitive Overwatch to streaming.
Although competitve Overwatch is where the glory is, there’s a lot to be said for people who want to stream, and play the game on their own terms. Miro has said that he is unsure as to whether or not he’ll return to the Overwatch League in future. For now, he’s happy to give himself “a pat on the back for what [he’s] done so far.”
