Mere hours before the Overwatch League signing window opens comes the news that the Hollywood Hammers roster has been dropped by their organisation.

The brief statement issued by Hammers sheds little light on their reasoning behind the decision but leaves the door open for a return to Overwatch in the future:

"As of July 31, 2017, Hammers Esports would like to announce the release of it’s Overwatch team.

We’d like to thank the players and staff for their hard work while part of the #HAMFAM and wish the best of luck to the incredibly talented Fischer, Shaz, Snizzlenose, ChrisTFer, Nesh, tomzeY, Kirby, and RaptorZ. We look forward to each of their performances within the upcoming Overwatch League!

We also want to emphasize that the Hammers organization intends to keep an interest within competitive Overwatch and we will be closely monitoring OWL's next developments. Stay tuned to our website and social media for the latest news and updates."

The news comes as no surprise in an era where many teams have been reassessing their commitments to Overwatch. Ongoing uncertainty compounded by the fact that Immortals had already secured the Los Angeles Overwatch League franchise and that Hammers had failed to qualify for Contenders Season 1 may have left the org with little choice other than to cut their losses.

In a brief chat with the Team UK and Hammers main tank, ChrisTFer, he confirmed that decision had come about because "[the Hammers organisation] couldn't get into OWL". The roster will be going their separate ways with the players most likely returning to Europe within the next month when their travel visas expire.

On post-Contenders Season Zero scrim performances ChrisTFer felt that "results were inconsistent, some good highs but often followed by bad days", but when asked if the team regretted the decision to relocate to North America he remained upbeat, stating, "No, it was a good experience", before concluding, "overall I don't blame Hammers for dropping us and we knew it was a possibility going into it".

The Hollywood Hammers were:

  • German "Nesh" Kobrin (DPS)
  • Erik "Snizzlenose" Hedåker (DPS)
  • Mads "Fischer" Jehg (Flex)
  • Christopher "ChrisTFer" Graham (Tank)
  • Jonas "Shaz" Suovaara (Support)
  • Tamás "tomzeY" Bordás (Support)
  • Yann "Kirby" Luu (Coach)
  • Gannon "RaptorZ" Nelson (Analyst)