Ryu Je-hong (, born September 5, 1991), better known mononymously as ryujehong, is a South Korean former professional

esports Esports (), short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams. ...

player, best known for his career as an ''

Overwatch ''Overwatch'' (abbreviated as OW) is a multimedia franchise centered on a series of multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) video games developed by Blizzard Entertainment. ''Overwatch (video game), Overwatch'' was released in 2016 with a success ...

'' player. During his ''Overwatch'' career, he played for the

Seoul Dynasty Seoul Dynasty is a South Korean professional Overwatch (video game)#Esports, ''Overwatch'' esports team based in Seoul, South Korea. The Dynasty compete in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's East region. Founded in 2017, Seou ...

and

Vancouver Titans The Vancouver Titans were a professional Overwatch (video game)#Esports, ''Overwatch'' esports team based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The Titans competed in the now defunct Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's West regi ...

in the

Overwatch League The Overwatch League (OWL) was a professional esports league for the video game ''Overwatch'', produced by its developer, Blizzard Entertainment. From 2018 to 2023, the Overwatch League followed the model of other traditional North American prof ...

(OWL), and prior to the OWL's inception, he played for Lunatic-Hai in Overwatch Apex. Ryu began his esports career playing ''

Counter-Strike ''Counter-Strike'' (''CS'') is a series of multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video games, in which opposing teams attempt to complete various objectives. The series began on Windows in 1999 with the release of the first game, '' Counte ...

'' for South Korean team Lunatic-Hai in 2010. He then transitioned to playing '' Special Force II'', where he won Special Force 2 Pro League Season 2 finals with team STX SouL in 2012. After the Special Force 2 Pro League shut down, Ryu left to complete his

mandatory military service Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it contin ...

in 2014. After returning from his military service in 2016, Ryu joined Lunatic-Hai's ''Overwatch'' team and competed in Overwatch Apex. From 2016 to 2017, Ryu won two Apex titles, was named the Apex most valuable player twice, won two

Overwatch World Cup The Overwatch World Cup (OWWC) is an annual international '' Overwatch'' esports tournament organized by Blizzard Entertainment, the game's developer, with the first edition taking place in 2016. The tournament ran every year until 2019; after a ...

titles with team South Korea, and was widely regarded as the world's best Ana player. In late 2017, he joined the Seoul Dynasty for the inaugural season of the Overwatch League. He played with the Dynasty in the 2018 and 2019 seasons, being named an OWL All-Star in both, before signing with the Vancouver Titans ahead of the 2020 season. Four games into the 2020 season, he was released, along with the entire Titans roster. Ryu transitioned to a career in

content creation Content creation or content creative is the act of producing and sharing information or media content for specific audiences, particularly in digital contexts. According to '' Dictionary.com'', content refers to "something that is to be expresse ...

, signing with

Gen.G Gen.G (, stand for "Generation Gaming"), also referred as Gen.G Esports and previously known as KSV Esports, is a professional esports organization with headquarters in Santa Monica, California, Santa Monica, Seoul, and Shanghai. According to Fo ...

in early 2021. However, he was indefinitely suspended from the organization shortly afterwards due to offensive comments he made on stream towards his female co-streamer.

Early life

Ryu was born on September 5, 1991. In his youth, he preferred playing

arcade games An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade ...

, and the first

PC game A personal computer game, or abbreviated PC game, also known as a computer game, is a video game played on a personal computer (PC). The term ''PC game'' has been popularly used since the 1990s referring specifically to games on "Wintel" (Micr ...

he played was ''

''. He made the decision to become a professional gamer when he was in seventh grade. The first tournament he competed in was the

World Cyber Games The World Cyber Games (WCG) is an international esports competition with multi-game titles in which hundreds of esports athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competitions also known as Esports Olympics. WCG events attempt to ...

Korea qualifiers, when he was in eighth grade.

Professional career

Pre-''Overwatch''

Ryu began his professional esports career in 2010 as a ''

'' player for South Korean team Lunatic-Hai. He then transitioned to playing '' Special Force 2'' and was a part of the STX SouL team that defeated

SK Telecom SK Telecom Co., Ltd., abbreviated as SKT ( or ) is a South Korean wireless telecommunications operator and former film distributor and is part of the SK Group, one of the country's largest chaebols. It leads the local market with 50.5 perce ...

, 3–0, in the Special Force 2 Pro League Season 2 finals in September 2012. After the Special Force 2 Pro League shut down, Ryu played other

first-person shooters A first-person shooter (FPS) is a video game genre, video game centered on gun fighting and other weapon-based combat seen from a First person (video games), first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action directly through t ...

before leaving for his

in 2014. Ryu was discharged from his military service on May 25, 2016, a day after the global release of ''

''.

Lunatic-Hai

In October 2016, Ryu returned to Lunatic-Hai, competing as a

support Support may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Supporting character * Support (art), a solid surface upon which a painting is executed Business and finance * Support (technical analysis) * Child support * Customer support * Income Su ...

in their ''Overwatch'' division. Through the remainder of the year, he and the team competed in several tournament series, including China's APAC Premier 2016 and South Korea's ''Overwatch'' Apex Season 1. While the team did not pick up a title in either one, Ryu was widely considered the world's best Ana player. Ryu picked up his first Apex title on April 8, 2017, after Lunatic-Hai defeated

RunAway Runaway, Runaways or Run Away may refer to: Engineering * Runaway reaction, a chemical reaction releasing more heat than what can be removed and becoming uncontrollable * Thermal runaway, self-increase of the reaction rate of an exothermic proce ...

, 4–3, in the Apex Season 2 finals. Additionally, he was named the season's most valuable player. Ryu carried his success into the following season, claiming the Apex Season 3 title after defeating KongDoo Panthera, 4–3, in the finals on July 29, 2017, and again was named the season's most valuable player. In Season 4, Ryu did not play in Lunatic-Hai's win over Meta Athena that advanced them to the second group stage. While he returned to the lineup afterwards, a loss to GC Busan in the second group stage ended their season. At the end of 2017, Ryu was nominated for

The Game Awards 2017 The Game Awards 2017 was an award show that honored the best video games of 2017, and took place at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on December 7, 2017. The event was hosted by Geoff Keighley, and was live streamed around the world across ...

Best Esports Player.

Seoul Dynasty

In August 2017,

Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher based in Irvine, California, and a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard. Originally founded in 1991, the company is best known for producing the h ...

announced that KSV Esports had signed Ryu, along with many other members of Lunatic-Hai, for their team representing

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, later branded revealed as the

, in the upcoming

(OWL). Ryu was named the team captain and played his first regular season match on opening day, January 10, 2018, that resulted in a win over the

Dallas Fuel Dallas Fuel was an American professional ''Overwatch'' team based in Dallas, Texas. The Fuel competed in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's East region. The team disbanded before the folding of the Overwatch League on Septem ...

. The Dynasty elected to bench Ryu in their match against the

London Spitfire London Spitfire is a Overwatch (video game)#Esports, professional ''Overwatch'' team representing the city of London, United Kingdom. The Spitfire compete in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's West region. Founded in 2017, ...

on February 1; the team lost the series 0–4, marking the first time that they had been swept in a match. Throughout the first half of the season, Ryu mainly played as

Zenyatta Zenyatta (foaled April 1, 2004) is a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the Breeders' Cup Classic and Breeders' Cup Distaff and 19 of her 20 starts. She was the 2010 American Horse of the Year, and American Champion Older Female H ...

, an offensive-driven support character, rather than Ana; despite many expecting him to be the top support player in the league, it was clear that

New York Excelsior The New York Excelsior (often stylized as NYXL) was an American professional Overwatch (video game)#Esports, ''Overwatch'' esports team based in New York City, New York. The Excelsior competed in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the leag ...

Bang "JJonak" Sung-hyeon would be taking that title. In their first game after midpoint of the season, on April 4, the Dynasty once again benched Ryu, and once again, they suffered a 0–4 loss — this time to the

Los Angeles Valiant Los Angeles Valiant (stylized as VΛLIΛNT) was an American professional Overwatch (video game)#Esports, ''Overwatch'' esports team representing the city of Los Angeles, California. Valiant competed in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of t ...

. He played outside of his role in a match on May 4 against the Spitfire, playing as the

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

character Winston, and despite not performing great in his new role, the Dynasty continued to play him as a tank for several more matches. At the end of the season, Ryu was selected as a starter for the 2018 All-Star Game. The following season, Ryu was selected as a starter for the 2019 All-Star Game. After the conclusion of the 2019 season, Ryu was listed as a free agent; after, Seoul Dynasty COO Arnold Hur announced that the franchise had

retired Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

his number 14 jersey.

Vancouver Titans

On November 27, 2019, the

announced that they had signed Ryu for the upcoming 2020 season. Many expected that he would split playing time behind Titan's support player Lee "Twilight" Ju-seok, who was an MVP nominee the previous season. However, on May 6, 2020, four matches into the season, the Titans released their entire roster following ongoing disputes between the organization's management and players. That same day, Ryu said that his time with the organization was "life was hell for 25 days" and announced that he would be taking a break from professional ''Overwatch''.

National team career

Ryu was selected as a member of Team South Korea for the first Overwatch World Cup (OWWC). Team South Korea ran through the entire tournament, ultimately defeating Team Russia, 4–0, in the World Cup final on November 6, 2016. As one of the first major ''Overwatch'' competitions in history, it was at this point when Ryu became known as one of the top ''Overwatch'' players in the world. The following year, Ryu was selected to represent Team South Korea 2017 Overwatch World Cup. He picked up his second OWWC title after Team South Korea defeated Team Canada, 4–1, in the World Cup finals on November 4, 2017.

Content creation

On January 12, 2021,

, parent group of the Seoul Dynasty, announced that they had brought on Ryu as a

content creator Content creation or content creative is the act of producing and sharing information or media content for specific audiences, particularly in digital contexts. According to '' Dictionary.com'', content refers to "something that is to be expresse ...

for ''Overwatch''. On a

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle c ...

stream days later, Ryu was co-streaming with a female streamer. While apparently drunk, he made several sexist and offensive comments towards his co-streamer. Ryu issued two apologies, and Gen.G indefinitely suspended all of Ryu's team-related activities on January 19.

References

{{Seoul Dynasty Living people South Korean esports players Vancouver Titans players Seoul Dynasty players 1991 births Counter-Strike players