Toronto Defiant player Se-Hyun “Neko” Park has been suspended for the first three games of the 2019 Overwatch League season.
Neko is one of seven players who are seeing discipline before the season starts and was revealed as on offender as part of the league’s new ‘Player Discipline Tracker,’ unveiled on Friday.
He is the only player from any of the two new Canadian OWL franchises and will miss the first three games in the Defiant’s existence for infractions of “selling an account and obstructing league office investigation.”
According to a statement from the Defiant, these violations of the league’s rules of competition and code of conduct were for actions committed before he was a Defiant member.
“Our organization fully supports the League’s decision,” the statement reads. “Neko has accepted accountability and apologizes to the League and his fans.”
A quick review of the league’s rulebook suggests Neko’s encroachment has to do with his Battle.net account.
Under the section for “maintaining player eligibility,” one passage reads as follows:
In order to be eligible to compete in Overwatch League events, each Player must (a) be in good standing with the League Office and Blizzard Group, including by remaining in compliance with all applicable Overwatch League Rules, and by maintaining at all times in good standing any Battle.net account associated with the Player in compliance with all applicable terms and conditions of the Blizzard End User License Agreement.
Battle.net, for those unaware, is OWL creator Activision Blizzard’s online account management platform that tracks account activity across the publisher’s games, including Overwatch.
Since these are infractions from his time before the Defiant, this punishment is likely for when Neko was a member of the Boston Uprising last season.
Neko will miss the Defiant’s inaugural match on Feb. 15 against the Houston Outlaws, and will subsequently be out for all of the team’s Week 2 matchups against fellow expansion club Atlanta Reign and the Los Angeles Valiant on Feb. 22 and 24, respectively.
A flex support player, Neko was one of the first two – along with Kang-jae “Envy” Lee – players unveiled as part of the Defiant’s roster.
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