OGN, the Overwatch APEX tournament organizer, announced that no foreign Overwatch teams will take part in the next tournament season.
The reason is that the Overwatch Contenders in North America and Europe are to kick off soon. Consequently, the international teams will be pressed for time to travel to South Korea for the APEX event. Instead of foreign teams, organizers will invite the best five teams from the Challengers league. ROX Orcas, NC Foxes, GC Busan, and LuxuryWatch Red are going to be among this year’s APEX participants. The fifth slot will be filled by Meta Bellum or Afreeca Freecs Red.
As the teams will be invited by the organizer, the relegation event, as well as the promotions regarding the tournament, will be scraped.
OGN also announced that the Season 4 would commence shortly after the end of APEX Season 3. The organizer settled for the short off-season decision with the aim of keeping the Overwatch play consistent and meeting the demands of players and fans.
The announcement reads that organizers have acknowledged fans’ opinion about the tight tournament schedule, but the nature of the league did not allow any significant schedule alterations. Nevertheless, OGN representatives said that it would be better for both players and fans if the tournament is run more quickly.
Still, OGN confirmed that the off-season period will be sufficient for the teams to make roster changes if needed. The five teams that will be automatically added to OGN APEX Season 4 will also be given some time to “recharge and rebuild”.
The APEX Season 3 wraps up on July 29th with the grand final between KongDoo Panthera and Lunatic-Hai.
Previous OGN APEX events featured a number of prominent western teams, including the Rogue and EnVyUs. The latter has won Season 1 and scooped more than $87,000 of the accumulated prize pool. Lunatic-Hai has emerged victorious in Season 2. As mentioned above, the defending champion will meet the Kongdoo Panthera in Season 3 finals.
