Most Overwatch roster changes happen during so-called “rostermania”, the annual mid-season period of the OWL, which is the first professional Overwatch eSports league organized by Blizzard themselves. The League features 20 franchised teams that represent cities from all around the globe, and the OWL Grand Finals is one of the main gaming events with a prize pool of $2.55 million USD.
Overwatch league transfers mostly occur in compliance with the roster construction rules issued by the League. As of now, the transfer window schedule looks like this:
- 4 October – The Grand Finals’ end marks the current season’s closing.
- 5 October – The active arrangements may be extended or signed anew if there are no changes in the list of players. All new trades must be submitted to be reviewed by the League Office and only after the approval, the transfer may become valid.
- 11 October – A deadline for teams willing to keep their current roster. All existing appointments should be in any way extended.
- 18 October – Players with contracts expired after the end of the season are now officially free agents.
- 23 December – The signing of the free agents by the teams for the next season may now begin.
- 13 March – A roster deadline: all teams are required to have at least five players with contracts active till the end of the next season.
Over the course of a season, every team must always have at least six players under contract for the whole season. A team may have a maximum of 12 players under a contract of any kind at any given moment.
Why Do Overwatch Teams Need to Change Rosters?
All transfers at Overwatch are a collective decision meant to make a team stronger for the upcoming season. The contracts of the best players will likely be extended while there will be many who will part ways with their team. Statistically, the transfers affects almost every team in the OWL.
How Does a Team Adapt to a New Transfer Player?
Overwatch is a game that is not only about skill. The gaming skill itself, while important, cannot win you a prize in the Grand Finals. A successful team is about communication, the ability to listen, and complementing each other’s forte. All of that requires a good coach who will create a true synergy and keep wholesome relationships between players handling conflicts and keeping at bay toxicity that can easily destroy the whole team.
And during the off-season roster shuffling, the coach can be changed, too, if the team feels that it needs a new direction.
Do a Lot of Overwatch Transfers Happen During an eSports Season?
Only in December 2022, there are over two dozen transfers: players switching teams, retiring, becoming free agents, free agents becoming team members, etc. That alone shows that, yes, the off-season is a busy time. During the season events, however, the transfers are far less frequent: changing a player will likely put the team’s progress to a halt as the new member will need time to adapt, and this is too risky for the ranking position.
A handy way to keep an eye on all the Overwatch transfers is using a our tracker. A tracker is a dynamic list that is constantly updated. There, you can see all the changes in the team rosters, analyze them, and even make some predictions on how the next season or event will look like.