Olivia R. June 14, 2019
Immortals Gaming Company has officially acquired Infinite Esports, OpTic Gaming's parent company. The $100 million deal is one of the biggest in the esports industry to date.
With the addition of OpTic Gaming, Immortals now has esports teams in even more titles. This includes League of Legends, meaning a possible return to the League of Legends Championship Series.
"It feels like a welcome homecoming," Immortals CEO Ari Segal said.
In the past, Immortals was one of the LCS' most popular and promising teams. But fans were shocked when Immortals wasn't part of the 2018 season. It was said this was because of the organization's committment to the new Overwatch League.
With the purchase of OpTic Gaming's parent compay, Immortals will be able to reenter the LCS. OpTic will reportedly participate in the league under their current name for the remainder of 2019, but will be rebranded to Immortals in 2020.
OpTic Gaming is 4-0 after the first two weeks of the LCS Summer Split.
Another concern the esports industry had was Immortal's Overwatch League participation. The OWL doesn't allow organizations to have multiple teams. Immortals already owns the Los Angeles Valiant franchise. With the purchase of Infinite Gaming, they have also acquired OpTic's Houston Outlaws.
Immortals stated they will manage Houston Outlaws on an interim basis and try to sell the franchise to another party. Overwatch League commissioner Pete Vlastlica stated that the Outlaws will have heavy supervision, helping to ensure that the team is able to verify competitive integrity while Immortals still controls both teams.
IGC will also obtain OpTic's Call of Duty World League team, but will be divesting from their Counter-strike: Global Offensive team, Made in Brazil.
“I feel strongly about connecting to high affinity fan bases and giving those fan bases reason to connect with content and experiences,” Segal said. “There is no, literally not one, single community group in esports that represents a more attractive tapestry against which to do those things.”
Infinite Esports' investors will now become IGC shareholders. This includes Neil Leibman and Ray Davis, Texas Rangers co-owners. Riot and Activision Blizzard have both approved the sale.
