Pine retires from professional Overwatch

Fans are going to miss the Big Boss.

Photo by Robert Paul via Blizzard Entertainment
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is SB1.png
Recommended Videos

This article is brought to you by StatBanana, the best Overwatch strategy tool.


Say goodbye to a legend. Kim “Pine” Do-hyeon has retired from professional Overwatch, but he’ll remain as an affiliated streamer with the New York Excelsior, the organization announced today.

Pine entered the spotlight because of his hitscan prowess. He was lethal with heroes like Widowmaker and McCree, and his Overwatch League inaugural season run helped pave the Excelsior’s overwhelmingly positive campaign, as well as their way to the playoffs.

The GOATS meta, prevalent during the league’s 2019 season, was largely unfavorable for snipers and hitscan heroes. As a triple-tank, triple support combination, it was difficult to fight against as a sniper and had no room for damage heroes when playing it. GOATS was replaced by double shield compositions, another sniper-averse meta. Pine didn’t see any action at all in this year’s season.

He used his stream to explain why he spent the second season on the bench. “Overwatch doesn’t agree with me,” he said. “Overwatch and I have different goals ingame.”

He assured fans that his absence wasn’t caused by mental health issues and that he wasn’t swapping the NYXL for a different team. Due to his remarks and lack of play time, his retirement from pro play wasn’t entirely unexpected.

Pine admitted to feeling pressured into being at his top form. “To be honest, if I was to talk about the nickname ‘Big Boss,’ personally I feel too much pressure from the name,” Pine said in an old Overwatch League video. “The name itself suggests that I have to be constantly good. It’s actually a huge burden to me.”

Fans can still see Pine and his high-risk, high-reward playstyle in action. Although he’ll be away from professional play, Pine will be an affiliated streamer with NYXL’s parent company, Andbox.

Author
Image of Pedro Peres
Pedro Peres
Pedro is Dot Esports' Lead Destiny Writer. He's been a freelance writer since 2019, and legend has it you can summon him by pinging an R-301, uttering the word "Persona," or inviting him to run a raid in Destiny 2 (though he probably has worse RNG luck than the D2 team combined). Find his ramblings on his Twitter @ggpedroperes (whenever that becomes available again).