Earlier on twitter Rogue confirmed they were moving the team to Vegas, the city that the organisation is also based in, and will be competing as an American team. The exact details of when and how they will be set up when they arrive has not been revealed, and Rogue are still missing a player after removing skipjack.
The #RogueOW team is moving to Vegas full time and will be competing as a North American team from now on. We'll give you a tour next week!
— Rogue (@GoingRogueGG) February 10, 2017
Over the last few months there have been many more competitions in North America than Europe, both small and large. The extra opportunities have given teams regular experience in a tournament environment to refine and improve themselves, as well as simply having more money to compete for. The move to Vegas will give Rogue a great boost in practice as they look to cement the new members of their roster since the three way shuffle back at the start of December 2016. Rogue are also yet to confirm their sixth player since skipjack's departure. Speculation currently centres around NiCO, who had a a lot of success in the beta with Melty as DPS, but there has been no official word from Rogue as of yet.
Though this is a great opportunity for Rogue and a possible hint at future Overwatch League plans, it is a double edged sword for Overwatch as a whole, with the European scene losing yet another top team to North America. EnVyUs made the move at the very beginning of Overwatch followed by Fnatic and Cloud9 players and the whole of LG, while FaZe's European trio are planning an imminent move as well. With another one of Europe’s tier-one teams leaving, it raises a lot of queries and concerns about the future of the European scene and how many other teams are considering the same move. over.gg’s own Harsha voiced these concerns back in January, whilst also gathering opinions from several top European players.
While an uncertain time for European Overwatch looms, it should not take away from the great opportunity for Rogue; this will mean many more chances to continue the tightly fought saga between EnVyUs and Rogue.
The Rogue roster making the move is:
- Dylan "aKm" Bignet (DPS)
- Terence "SoOn" Tarlier (DPS)
- Michael "winz" Bignet (Flex)
- Benjamin "uNKOE" Chevasson (Flex Support)
- Jean-Louis "KnOxXx" Boyer (Support)
- Philippe "Lanf3ust" Rivain (Coach)
(Roles presumed, these may change upon picking up their final player)