APRIL FOOLS

Heh, you thought.

These aren't announcements I ever expected to be posting, neither of them. I started Respawn League in late 2018 out of discontent with the current Highlander league offerings at the time, then two years ago, Respawn League merged into ozfortress. To now be handing off not only the Respawn League branding but also the League Director role - it's a huge change. So, let us lay out what changes are coming.

I'm stepping away from the League Director role. Closing in on three years, I figure now is the right time to move on. So who will be at the helm? Well, I figured I would dig up a fossil, a Suchomimus in fact (I have no idea if that is the ancestor species of a catfish but), catfish. catfish will be returning to see over the return of Capping 4 a Cause later this year and the day-to-day of Respawn League from now on. Wait, the day-to-day of Respawn League?

catfish's acceptance statement:

I'm excited to be returning. After a good break to just enjoy TF2 and our community, I'm ecstatic to be picking up the reins, and leading ozfortress into the remainder of 2024 and beyond.

I, along with the rest of the staff team, have full confidence in catfish to help us redefine Team Fortress in the Asia-Pacific region.

We're rebranding!

Yeah, you read that right. Starting very shortly, all ozfortress properties will be rebranded to Respawn League (rsl.tf). There are more than a few reasons as to why this is happening, but the ones that matter are below.

Merch

We want to be able to bring you cool ozfortress merch, working with artists on a 50/50 revenue split. All merch revenue will be combined with the Patreon pool to cover server costs, as well as to more consistent prize pools! We'll have more information about this coming shortly.

Capping 4 a Cause

There are some fairly obvious legal requirements for a charity event/tournament, especially one with staff attending a studio for coverage. Like merch, there will be more info coming in due time. Oh and also yes - Capping 4 a Cause will be returning.

Branding

Beyond the ozfortress name, not having a logo that isn't a wordmark logo can be very limiting. So we figured we would bring a new logo and name, or rather a logo and name that didn't get to be used too much. ozfortress has been around for 23 years almost, it's time for something new.

Infrastructure reasons

Having full control over the rsl.tf domain, we can more quickly deploy new services and tools, regardless of if they are public or private. This will prevent us from having to wait weeks/months to get any ozfortress subdomain set.

We're expanding our competitions to Asia!

Yup, it's finally happening. Starting from our Winter '24 seasons, we will be running both Asia Sixes and Asia Highlander leagues. This is a big step for us, but it's yet another step up the mountain of bringing competitive TF2 to the spotlight it deserves.

We understand there is a lot of change coming, but just know this - what you've come to love and appreciate about ozfortress will remain, just under a new name.

Well, I guess not everything will remain. It's been real everyone, but there comes a time when you feel you need to step back and let those with more passion take the lead. Thanks for the memories and to those I met along the way.