T2 and T3 Overwatch is a complete nightmare. If you aren’t a big streamer or already in OWL, you are making almost nothing, so of course they’re leaving.
Blizzard is really dropping the ball. You cannot have a good OWL without a T2 good enough to grow new talent. OWL will never survive without a good T2 to back it, and they should be investing in it to support OWL.
I just think it’s funny that they’re leaving to play a game that’s not even out yet.
Remember when Apex came out? Same thing. Everytime I see a Twitlonger from some nobody I’m like 
sure, Jan
Most of the retiring posts are from washed ex-OWL players who weren’t good enough to get back into OWL so they’re taking their chances in a new game.
How is that different to any other esport, or indeed sport? Seems the key difference as an esport between OWL and others, is OWL has endless money to throw at the top tier, others the top tier might be reasonably lucrative, when they win, but the rest aren’t playing for big paycheques.
Feels like the T2 and T3 scene are feeling a little entitled and playing for the wrong reasons.
Tbf Contenders is in a weird spot atm. It’s a massive money sink for OWL teams to invest money for academy teams (a lot of notable academy teams have dropped out) and it’s using a very weird to follow format where not all the games are being broadcast. Blizzard need to advertise Contenders if they want new talent coming into OWL in the future.
On that front, T2 and T3 scene are a bit neglected with pay not guarantee.
I do think that OWL need to support more on T2 and T3 as well as expanding 3rd party support tournaments/organizations like what DotA does to increase more chances.
Most T2 and T3 are leaving to Valorant because it’s an opportunity to them and Riot is a bit trusted on their T2 and T3 scenes, plus they have the dosh to throw at it.
Seems like a very simple problem to fix. A lot of the owners run teams across multiple franchises as well, so that’s got to be a consideration, and if development is more viable in one format over another that’s where they’ll go, but it doesn’t mean players will stay there if coaches think they’ll be better somewhere else.
That and because people are fed up, Casual gamers lost interest with the game and the game has become a seedbed for the growth of toxicity and ego than to have fun.
Balance is out of whack as they keep trying to enforce changes to the Meta which leads to some very broken balance if not a lot of failed attempts.
Rather than Flexing, the game has become very centered on one tricking.
The real reason pros are leaving is because Contenders is dead, murdered by Blizzard’s partnership with Youtube. OWL will be headed the same way because Google is just so laughably bad at anything gaming-related.
I bet some executive at Activision-Blizzard got a fat bonus for signing that deal, though 
Various reasons.
I’d imagine the poor balance plays a role
inactive devs
no patches
when there are patches it isn’t enough to drive meta changes
talentless heroes have been hard meta for almost 2 years
double shield/brig abusers still in high ranks throwing games where people are smart enough to punish them
because valorant will be an actual competitive game where the devs listen to the competitive community to make an actual esports worthy game. instead of listening to the casual community to make sure everyone and their mum can play the game at the highest tier
They are not leaving because Overwatch is bad. Overwatch is actually extremely good, the best game in its genre even. It’s just a massive coincidence that a whole ton of pros are leaving a great game that’s so good.
I follow a few content creators who quit playing overwatch due to the slow nature of new content. Many play fort thingy. Regular updates and random stuff added all the time.
Occasionally they play overwatch if there is a new character or map but it’s always short lived.
Could be because even with new heroes being added, the feel of this rarely changes, and when it does, it’s usually for the worse. Or the fact this game is 3ish years old, and new titles are dropping that could easily fill the void of OW while feeling fresh. They’ll likely come back for OW2, but I doubt they’ll stay around as long since OW2 is unlikely to feel any different, at least for the PVP section. Can’t play the same game over and over again forever. That’s just the truth of the matter.
As your name says, they’re such a miniscule part of the community, does it matter? I bet multiple times as many new players buy Overwatch each day than pros retire (and likewise, multiple times as many people quit each day).
Plus, pros will go where the money is. It’s their job to play video games. Unlike us “players”, they’re not here for the gameplay and the spare time entertainment, quite the opposite in fact.
There’s a new shiney game out for them to play, Overwatch has been around for a long time now. etc etc etc
Some will stay on Valorant, some will realize it’s not the utopia they were hoping for, others will come back when OW2 drops.
A LOT of things combined:
Now Riot also has the same 2 problems with their games such as LOL, where T2 and lower is not doing well compared to T1 scene. Actually, the problem with any tier lower than T1 not getting love from the company is a recurring theme among the big Esports scene right now.
I know Tier 2 and lower Dota 2 is basically dead right now, and people are saying the same thing with LoL as well.
But Overwatch the game is not very enjoyable to play mainly because of how people treated each other.
Plenty of gaming news outlets talked about how the OW team was offering significantly less financial compensation across the board when it came to OWL - much lower offers for the announcers / commentors that they usually hire, lower offers for the gamers, and with pretty demanding requirements too.
Basically Blizzard is coasting on people wanting to work with/for it because it’s ‘Blizzard’, they’re banking on their clout to get them workers and people are wising up to it and saying no thank you instead.
Between that and all the game balance problems, which are numerous, there’s really not much reason to stay. If you’re not making good money and you’re not having a good time, why would you be there?
Nobody wants to give the real answer.
The game is frustrating and no longer fun to play for them, competitively or casualy.