win.gg
Win.gg News Washington Justice GM Kate Mitchell announces plans to retire

Washington Justice GM Kate Mitchell announces plans to retire

Steven Rondina
Steven Rondina Published 11/04/2019
Google Preferred Source

A staffing change with Overwatch League’s Washington Justice has shined a fresh light on burn out and toxicity in esports.

Justice general manager Kate Mitchell has announced that she is planning to retire following the end of stage two of the season. In her announcement, she specifically cited the rigorous nature of esports and frequent hostility over social media, particularly Reddit.

“I’ve had irreplaceable experiences in this community…It’s impossible to ignore, though, that I’ve also been confronted with toxicity and cruelty from strangers that outpaced anything I saw in years in gaming and politics, especially from people on Reddit,” Mitchell told The Game Haus.

Mitchell spoke to a desire to “power through” the issues she faced and to set a positive example for LGBT women, but spoke to the increased difficulty of facing such challenges while also being away from her friends and family.

Esports has long had a problem with burnout. The rigorous schedules and results-oriented nature of sports is a brutal combination on its own. Add to that the traditionally aggressive video game community attitudes and it results in high turnover at both the competitive and administrative levels.

Overwatch League has felt this particularly strongly in recent weeks. The game has been hit hard by a number of sudden retirements including star players Hyeon “EFFECT” Hwang and Daniel “Dafran” Francesca. Both Dafran and EFFECT discussed burnout with Overwatch as a major factor for their retirement from pro competition. Dafran is moving on to streaming, though it is unclear what the future holds for EFFECT.

Despite being in a non-competitive role, Mitchell’s time in Overwatch League was rough from the start. She found quick success as the manager for Contenders team Last Night’s Leftovers and turned that into a position with the Washington Justice expansion team.

However, shortly after stepping into the Justice GM position, former pro player Michael “MykL” Padilla accused Mitchell of offering jobs with the team to players and coaches and then rescinding them, particularly to former San Francisco Shock analyst and current Vancouver Titans coach Harsha “Harsha” Bandi. Most of MykL’s claims were unconfirmed. Both the team and Mitchell herself denied the claims when asked for comment by Dot Esports, but the allegations from MykL made things difficult from the start.

Despite those troubles, Mitchell stated that she received support from many in the Overwatch League both inside and outside of Washington.

“The reason I made it as long as I did is simple: The people here at Justice are some of the best folks I’ve ever worked with,” Mitchell said. “I also wanted to thank the folks from other teams who have provided support and advice in difficult times.”

Stage 2 runs until May 5. Washington has not yet announced a replacement for Mitchell.

Steven Rondina Steven Rondina
About Steven Rondina

Steven Rondina is a true lifelong gamer. His earliest memories are of playing video games, and he has continued playing them throughout his life with no plans to stop any time soon. Steven’s favorite franchises in gaming include Pokemon, Dark Souls, and Counter-Strike. He has previously published with Bleacher Report and other gaming outlets.

View full profile
Read Also
Jynxzi’s Rainbow Six Siege Tournament: Format, Date and Roster Twitch
Jynxzi’s Rainbow Six Siege Tournament: Format, Date and Roster Khizar Mundia Nicholas “Jynxzi” Stewart’s Rainbow Six Siege tournament is about to start, and this time Ubisoft is also supporting the event. With the roster now confirmed, Twitch drops will also be available to viewers throughout the stream. Jynxzi is best known for his Rainbow Six Siege content, even though he regularly plays several other games, including GTA 5. The streamer still revisits Rainbow Six Siege both on stream and through the tournaments ...
Teams travelling to TI15 had to contend with a Typhoon that flooded the streets of Shanghai Dota 2
Teams travelling to TI15 had to contend with a Typhoon that flooded the streets of Shanghai Michael Hassall It’s not often that the elements themselves conspire against Dota 2 players, but as players started to head to China for TI15, some were left stranded by the arrival of Typhoon Dolphin to the eastern China coast. OG and other teams, potentially including PARIVISION (competing at TI as Team VISION), seemingly found themselves with extended layovers as Shanghai Airport cancelled flights in the wake of Typhoon Dolphin. While all the ...
Trade on Which Songs Will Make It Onto the GTA 6 Radio at Kalshi — Use Promo Code WINGGPREMAR GTA
Trade on Which Songs Will Make It Onto the GTA 6 Radio at Kalshi — Use Promo Code WINGGPREMAR Zachary Roberts Like all previous games in the series, GTA 6 will have an extensive in-house array of radio stations which will be a major part of gameplay. The radio adds a lifelike wrinkle to Grand Theft Auto games whenever you get in a vehicle, which, as the franchise name suggests, is pretty often. Some players enjoy just riding around the setting of the game listening to music. GTA 5 and Online ...
The International 2026 schedule: Dota 2 TI15 full schedule and day-by-day Dota 2
The International 2026 schedule: Dota 2 TI15 full schedule and day-by-day Michael Hassall The International 2026, TI15, is finally here, and with the event starting it’s time to watch the greatest Dota 2 teams from around the globe compete for the game’s ultimate prize: The Aegis of Champions. With TI15 taking place in Shanghai, China, and in a completely different timezone for many of its viewers, the schedule and timings can be a bit hard to follow. That’s why we’ve put together a ...
Kai Cenat and iShowSpeed Minecraft Marathon: Rules and Highlights So Far Twitch
Kai Cenat and iShowSpeed Minecraft Marathon: Rules and Highlights So Far Khizar Mundia Kai Cenat and Darren “iShowSpeed” Watkins Jr.’s much-awaited Minecraft marathon is now live, with the pair revealing the event's rules. While the two haven’t been faring well in their mission, fans are invested to see whether they can complete the marathon, which is being streamed on YouTube and Twitch. Here is a look at the rules for Kai Cenat and iShowSpeed’s 2026 Minecraft marathon, as well as some of the ...
YouTube Increases Viewership Requirement for Earning Ad Revenue News
YouTube Increases Viewership Requirement for Earning Ad Revenue Hannan Mundia Despite YouTube being a cornerstone for creators hoping to quickly start earning money from their content, the platform is increasing its viewership requirement following changes to the YouTube Partner Program. While content creators today can utilize the monetization programs offered by multiple platforms, that wasn’t always the case. Previously, YouTube was the only reliable platform that paid its creators fairly. Of course, this only applied to those who had met ...
Asmongold Banned on Twitch and Reveals Health Scare Twitch
Asmongold Banned on Twitch and Reveals Health Scare Khizar Mundia Zack “Asmongold” Hoyt has been banned from Twitch on his Zackrawrr channel, and he uploaded a video in response, also revealing that he had been busy dealing with a worrying health scare. Asmongold is infamous for his controversial and blunt takes on serious matters, and the streamer’s political opinions have led to him butting heads with Twitch multiple times. The streamer has recently been banned from Twitch again, and viewers ...