honoree who had dropped out of college to start the company in 2015. Several industry insiders toldthat the then-23-year old’s public criticism of certain aspects of the LCS might have rubbed the game publisher the wrong way.
As their relationship took root—which proved easy, according to both men, who bonded over being die-hard New York Yankees fans from neighboring towns in New Jersey—it became clear to Segal he needed to steer the company in a new brand-building direction. Instead of slapping the Immortals corporate logo on every competitive gaming team—as is the case with big players like Cloud9 and Team SoloMid,—the mission would be to develop specific brands for each game.
In October, Mark Cuban made waves for claiming esports teams are an awful business, despite the fact he owns anfranchise. He’s right that the franchise model is not without challenges, the biggest being that, if the game disappears, IGC loses a brand and the millions in fees sunk into it. “Esports organizations involved in the league franchises are better positioned to add new brand dollars than those not involved in them,” says senior analyst Laura Martin. “That structure gives brands additional, desirable safety, and that’s where their money is going to be spent.”
For one, there is the matter of his OpTic Gaming LA CDL team. At the time of its purchase, it was driving 60% of viewership in. Back then, its founder and industry legend Hector “H3CZ” Rodriguez was still at the helm. When he parted ways with the company last September to join NRG as co-CEO and the force behind its Chicago Huntsmen CDL team, fans followed. On Twitter alone, on the day of his announcement, OpTic lost some 6,000 followers, equal to the number NRG gained.
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