There’s about to be a shake up in the world of eSports. This past Friday, the Overwatch League’s commissioner, Nate Nanzer, announced, via a tweet thread, that he would be stepping down from his position and will also be leaving Blizzard for “a new opportunity.” ESPN has since confirmed that Nanzer will be joining Epic Games to oversee the company’s eSports division.
In the tweet thread, Nanzer would state he was proud of everything the Overwatch League has accomplished, and even stated he receives “way too much credit for the success of the Overwatch League.” He would then go on to state he is “confident the league is in great hands.”
Those hands, according to ESPN, will be those of Pete Vlastelica. Vlastelica is the current president and CEO of Activision Blizzard Esports Leagues. Vlastelica would say in a statement, “We have the best team in the business working incredibly hard to realize the vision we set out to create years ago, and I’ll be working very closely with our staff, the teams and partners to do just that.”
The Overwatch League itself is about to start Stage 3 of the current season which starts on June 6. In the previous stages of the season, the Stage 1 champions were the Vancouver Titans. The Stage 2 champions were the San Fransisco Shock who set multiple records on the way to their victory. The league also recently started having home matches for teams.
At Epic Games, Nanzer will most like focus on the company’s behemoth battle royale Fortnite. The Fortnite World Cup is currently in the midst of its qualifiers with the finals taking place at the end of July. Epic Games also recently bought Psyonix, the developers of Rocket League. Rocket League also has an eSports following, so it would come as no surprise if Nanzer helps evolve the game’s eSports scene as well.