Overwatch pro retires, shares juicy career details in tell-all stream
William "Crimzo" Hernandez has retired from professional Overwatch. The Candian World Cup player and former flex support of the Vancouver Titans shared the news on his Twitter account, then took to his Twitch stream to ask fan questions.
In the process, Crimzo shared behind-the-scenes information on team operations, former teammates, coaches, and what the future may hold for him.
Behind the curtain
Crimzo is one of the most travelled former OWL players, having played for four different franchises throughout his career. Starting with the Dallas Fuel in 2020 after having been on its academy team EnVy, he talked about the stresses during his first season with COVID-19 changing the nature of competition.
According to Crimzo, the circumstances contributed towards inner turmoil in the team, which led to a public fallout with his former teammate Jang "Decay" Guiwoon. Other benched teammates checked out and mostly spent their time playing VALORANT, even going as far as to leak strategic, confidential information.
For season 4, Crimzo had offers from Vancouver Titans, Los Angeles Gladiators, Houston Outlaws. The flex support says that he prioritised playtime over salary throughout his career, choosing the Outlaws instead of the Gladiators, due to Kim "Shu" Jin-seo being a likely lock for a starting position, despite David "dpei" Pei offering to still bring Crimzo on.
During his transfer to the state rival, the Houston Outlaws, the hybrid-roster approach seemed to work more harmoniously as Crimzo made friends with several of his South Korean teammates. He shared that the bi-lingual Choi "Junkbuck" Jae-won was his favourite coach during his time in Overwatch League.
Crimzo said he was both knowledgeable about the game and also able to connect cultures. However, he did share that his coach let him know that his Korean teammates felt he died too often in-game. He also shared regrets about his own behaviour, explaining that he felt he was too harsh with his teammates and coaches.
The Uprising core
Moving to the Boston Uprising, Crimzo says he once again joined a team with a troubled team atmosphere. Under the leadership of Kim "Lori" Seung-hyun, the team went through strenuous but was eventually separated, excluding its English-speaking players from participating in scrims and review sessions.
While Crimzo agreed that Lori's knowledge about the game was high, his social skills were lacking, causing Crimzo to contact Uprising's management about these internal issues. Lori was let go shortly after, with some Korean players like Kim "Valentine" Byeong-ju disagreeing with the decision, according to Crimzo.
For season 6, some of the former Uprising players, as well as staff, moved to the Vancouver Titans. This formed a tight core around Crimzo, Leyton "Punk" Gilchrist, and Kim "Faith" Hong-gyu. He shared great synergy with the latter. The team would finish in a strong fifth place during the regular season, falling short to qualify for the Playoffs during the Play-Ins.
Talking about his future, Crimzo says he's interested in coaching and participating in the collegiate system, which has drawn the interest of various former Overwatch League players across its existence - promising scholarship programs while competing for their respective schools’ teams.
With the future of Overwatch esports still unknown, former Overwatch League players are looking to move on from the game, and an increasing number of them have announced their retirement. Blizzard Entertainment has yet to announce what the new system for Overwatch esports will look like, only revealing that it would be transitioning to a new model after the conclusion of Overwatch League season 6.
