Overwatch League commissioner joining Epic Games

Overwatch League commissioner Nate Nanzer is departing Activision Blizzard to oversee Fortnite esports at Epic Games.

Nanzer was one of the founders of the Overwatch League, now one of the leading esports leagues in the world.

He announced his departure on Twitter, stating: “I wanted to share that soon I will be leaving Blizzard for a new opportunity. This has been the toughest decision of my life, because it means I won’t get to work with the best staff, players, teams, owners, partners, and fans in esports anymore.”

Epic Games confirmed to EPSN that Nanzer will be joining the company.

“We’re excited to welcome Nate to the Epic Games team, where he’ll be working with us on competitive Fortnite,” it said.

Epic said last May that it was “getting behind competitive play in a big way”, committing $100,000,000 to fund prize pools for Fortnite competitions in the 2018 – 2019 season.

Earlier this month, it also confirmed plans to acquire Psyonix, the studio behind popular vehicular sports game Rocket League, bringing the game’s esports championship series under its control.

Activision Blizzard esports CEO Pete Vlastelica will replace Nanzer as Overwatch League commissioner.

“We have the best team in the business working incredibly hard to realize the vision we set out to create years ago, and I’ll be working very closely with our staff, the teams and partners to do just that,” the former Fox Sports executive vice president said.

Activision plans to launch a city-based, franchised Call of Duty league in 2020, with former NFL vice president Johanna Faires serving as commissioner.