Today South Korean Overwatch team RunAway announced that the team would cease operations.
— Runaway OW I 러너웨이 OW (@Runaway_OW) June 14, 2021
Team owners Yoon “Runner” Dae-hoon and Lee “Flowervin” Hyun-ah made the announcement that the team would go on “an indefinite hiatus” on Flowervin’s Twitch stream. The couple are popular streamers in Korea, and their streaming revenue served as the team’s main source of funding. They cited the insufficient Contenders structure and lack of viewership overlap as the main reasons for the team’s disbandment.
Runner and Flowervin have announced that RunAway will no longer be operating an Overwatch Contenders team and will go on an indefinite hiatus.@Runaway_OW pic.twitter.com/vulAXhTAR6
— Kevin Kim (@KevinKim0_0) June 14, 2021
Runner formed RunAway in 2017 and the team qualified to the first season of OGN APEX. Initially, they had performed poorly. But they qualified back to the tournament in Season 2, where they made it to the finals. They gained notoriety for being an amateur team with no organization that was still able to go toe-to-toe with other teams. Therefore, as perpetual underdogs, RunAway quickly became fan favorites and went on to win several championships in Overwatch Contenders.
The team produced many notable players over its four years of operation. In fact, the entire roster that RunAway fielded in 2018 was signed to the Vancouver Titans. They won their first stage in the Overwatch League and set a record for longest match win streak with 19 straight wins. Additionally, the roster that replaced them contained current league stars, like Kim “Yaki” Jun-ki and Lee “Leejaegon” Jae-gon, and won five championships.
RunAway was most known for their tight-knit team atmosphere and the content that Runner and Flowervin produced around the team. They were the only APEX team still operating in Contenders Korea in 2021.
