Former Toronto Defiant player Andreas “Nevix” Karlsson is stepping away from Overwatch to take a break from competing, citing his own disappointment in his recent performances as the main reason.
Several players, including his own teammate Lane “Surefour” Roberts, have explored similar options, but Nevix made the decision official earlier today.
Nevix joined the Defiant in 2020 after spending his first two seasons with the San Francisco Shock, where he won the Overwatch League 2019 title with the team. Despite bringing in several strong players, the Toronto-based roster still underperformed, finishing 15th during the regular season and exiting the North American playoffs in a tie for ninth place.
Since the end of the season, Nevix has reflected on his career, saying that he is happy with his career overall but disappointed in how he has performed, specifically in the last two years.
In his message, he talked about how he had a great time with the Shock, but he never felt like he deserved to share in the success they had during season two because he was not on the starting roster. And for his single season with the Defiant, he says he had nothing but great things to say but feels like he was losing motivation with each loss the team suffered.
That resulted in him looking back, saying he never felt like he peaked or “played at his highest level during the season.”
“When the seasons ended I didn’t want to touch the game,” Nevix said. “But since tryouts are coming up I should still be practicing. That’s when I realized I would like to take a break. I still did one tryout for a team, with very little time put into Overwatch the past month. It didn’t go that well. So I decided to put Overwatch to the side and focus on other things.”
He does clarify that this is not him announcing his retirement from the game—rather he just wants to take some time away and come back feeling 100 percent.
“I still enjoy competing and Overwatch is a good game.” Nevix said. “So if I want to go back. I wanna come back knowing this is what I want to keep doing 100% and give it my all, but until then I want to thank everyone who supported me through the good and the bad times. Family, friends, and fans I do really appreciate you all.
