📝 NTMR leave Overwatch for now ahead of OWCS 2026

After two years of Overwatch esports, the NTMR organisation has officially announced their non-involvement from the upcoming OWCS Open Qualifiers and a reevaluation of their future in the sport.

NTMR entered the competitive esports scene in 2024, sponsoring their first team, NTMR Rotation. This roster, consisting primarily of one-tricks, qualified for OWCS 2024 Stage 1 but ultimately did not find much success.

The organisation's first major break came at the onset of the 2024 Esports World Cup, when they signed the former-Timeless roster and sponsored their trip to Riyadh.

After their journey to the 2024 EWC, the NTMR organisation had made themselves a mainstay of North American Overwatch. Since this event, NTMR have found success by finishing in the top four at four stages across both 2024 and 2025, and by travelling to the 2024 World Finals, the 2025 Champions Clash, and the 2025 Midseason Championship. In 2025, NTMR achieved their greatest international success, upsetting the regional powerhouse Crazy Raccoon to finish third place in the Champions Clash.

The decision not to participate in the 2026 season marks the first-ever OWCS stage without the NTMR organisation. In a statement provided to OWTV, NTMR CEO Jack “Fl4k” Ketchum addressed the decision and the challenges of operating as a non-partner team:

I believe we will be back, hopefully sooner than later, but I feel we needed to make our statement heard. Now I am not trying to demand partner, nor do we deserve it, but we are finding it difficult to work as just a Non-Partner in the space, especially in the region with the most partners. It is hard for us to see our long-term or short-term goals right now. I loved Overwatch more than anything until I made NTMR. Now, I gotta make sure I do everything I can for NTMR because it is a thing now, a real thing.

Business decisions had to be made for the best of Overwatch, and now for the best of NTMR to make sure we do this right if we are going to continue doing it at all. I don't blame anyone for this, just a bit too much hope in an industry I didn't understand yet. But I understand it now.

Avast said it well on his post responding, "the intersection between passion and business reality in esports."

Fl4k’s comments provide hope for the future, but also a stark reminder of a constant tension between competitive ambition and financial sustainability. While NTMR have chosen to reassess that balance, fans will keep an optimistic eye out for the iconic team’s return.