London-headquartered esports organisation Fnatic have announced a new Apex Legends roster, marking their return to EA’s battle royale shooter game.
The global esports brand’s new Apex Legends team will be based out of Japan.
Having previously had European and American rosters in the game, the move signals Fnatic’s intent to build within the Japanese market, which is also a key region for Apex – the second most popular game in the country (behind Valorant).
The new Apex Legends Fnatic team, which features Meltstera (18), Yukaf (18), Matsutasu (23) and coach Kamaneko (26), currently ranks second in Japan and ninth worldwide.
The news comes one year after Fnatic secured $17m in funding to support their expansion into Japan and Asia-Pacific, and a few months after Fnatic entered Rainbow Six Siege esports in Japan.
Sam Mathews, Fnatic founder, said: “We are really excited about our new Apex Legends team, and it’s great to be furthering our presence in Japan, following the recent relocation of our Rainbow 6 roster.
“Apex has had resounding success as a title and with the return of international LAN events, the esports scene has become an incredible spectacle.”
Sam Mathews, Fnatic
“It was the perfect opportunity ahead of the ALGS Championship, and we could not be prouder to have some of Japan’s best representing the Black and Orange in the World Championship in Raleigh.”
The new Apex Fnatic team have already qualified for the upcoming World Championship in Raleigh, North Carolina, taking place between July 7th and 14th 2022.
The news comes after UK-based Guild Esports left Apex Legends.
The org said: “We decided to exit Apex Legends after evaluating that it did not offer sufficiently attractive commercial options at present.”
A few weeks ago saw a separate UK esports success story in Apex Legends. British emergency sub player Jmw won the Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) Split 2 Playoffs LAN with Reignite, after a last minute flight to Sweden to reach the tournament on time.
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Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
