Jon Spector, Vice President of Overwatch Leaves Blizzard
With the launch of the 2023 Overwatch League season on the Horizon, Jon Spector announced via LinkedIn that he would be leaving his role as the Commercial Leader & Vice President of Overwatch at Blizzard.
"I’ve made the decision to leave Blizzard after 6 amazing years. Working on Overwatch has been the highlight of my career so far – everyone on Team 4 brings immense talent and passion to their work every day.
I am so thankful to everyone at Blizzard who made this chapter of my career so special. I know the Overwatch franchise has an incredibly bright future ahead of it and the team is in great hands with leaders including Walter Kong, Jared Neuss, Aaron Keller, and Paw Linnemann Larsen steering the ship." Jon Spector via LinkedIn
Spector joined Blizzard and the Overwatch League in March 2017 as a Senior Director before becoming the Vice President and Head of the Overwatch League in 2020. In 2021 he took over as the Commercial Leader & Vice President of Overwatch. Prior to his career with Overwatch Esports, he spent three years in the NBA.
While Spector has no concrete plans that he's shared thus far, it seems he has sights on staying in the gaming sphere. Via his post on LinkedIn, he did comment that "I’d be excited to connect with anyone seeking a leader for games product management or commercial functions!"
His departure isn't a good look for Blizzard and Overwatch Esports, with the 2023 season looming and several teams still in the process of finalizing and announcing their rosters. However, Blizzard and the OWL have weathered the departure of other high profile names leaving the organizations like Jeff Kaplan, former lead designer and gamer director of Overwatch, in the midst of Overwatch 2's development.
Time will tell if his departure has any effects on the overall state of the game and esports. The Overwatch League 2023 Season starts in the West Region with a pro-am tournament on March 23rd, with the regular season kicking off on April 27th.
