London-based esports organisation Tundra Esports has announced Liverpool FC footballer Virgil van Dijk as its new ambassador and shareholder, in a music video to gaming grime song ‘Outplayed’ by rapper P Money.
As one of the best football players in the world, Tundra says Virgil will ‘help elevate and grow the overall Tundra brand whilst providing support and mentorship to the organisation’s professional esports players’, with a focus on performance and sportsmanship.
Tundra has an international roster of Dota 2, Fortnite and FIFA talent, as well as content creators, with several esports players and streamers joining Tundra earlier this year.
A long-time avid gamer, Virgil played video games as a child and is now a fan and player of the likes of FIFA, Fortnite and sim racing games.
The announcement of Virgil as Tundra’s new ambassador and shareholder was revealed in the competitive gaming anthem, ‘Outplayed’, which has been released today.
The track was created by Tundra’s ambassador and British grime artist P Money. Created to celebrate gaming and for anyone who plays games or watches competitive gaming, ‘Outplayed’ is ‘purposefully PG-rated for all gamers of any age’.
The track weaves in iconic gaming references throughout and has a frenetic energy mixed with electronic sounds to mirror the playful, fast-paced nature of competitive gaming.
P Money, who has been a lifelong gamer playing everything from FIFA and Call of Duty Warzone to Elden Ring, started contributing to music games through a modified Grand Theft Auto server called No Pixel, where he made music for the server.
‘Outplayed’ came from Tundra’s director of marketing and content, Danny Lopez, and P Money’s ambition to merge gaming and music even further.
P Money commented: “Occasionally the path of music and gaming has crossed over, but I can see a world where the two go hand in hand across major esports events and artists expanding their discography to embrace game themed music in the future.”
Tundra Esports ambassador and shareholder, and professional footballer Virgil van Dijk, commented: “I am extremely excited to be joining Tundra Esports.
“Tundra Esports is one of the fastest growing esports organisations in the world and they are moving in a very exciting direction. It was great to be able to collaborate with P Money and the idea behind ‘Outplayed’ further emphasised why I wanted to be involved to help grow the team.”
Virgil van Dijk, Tundra Esports
“They have built up a tremendous reputation when it comes to player well-being within a winning culture which is something that really resonates with me. I’m excited for the future”.
The song joins other esports org tracks like G2’s ‘Our Way’ and is the latest example of music’s continued convergence with esports and gaming. And Virgil joins other athletic stars that have partnerships with esports organisations, like David Beckham with Guild, Harry Maguire with Semper Fortis, Usain Bolt with Wylde and others.
Tundra Esports ambassador and grime artist P Money added: “Outplayed is a gaming anthem for everyone to enjoy. Grime and gaming pair perfectly – they have the same energy and hype, its two completely separate worlds merging. It’s been fantastic to be able to combine my two passions and to introduce my music fan base to what I’ve been doing in gaming.
“I want to show how both can go hand in hand and bring out others who’ve been interested but never quite had the confidence to do it.”
“This is a major moment for Tundra. Having someone like Virgil, who is highly revered both on and off the pitch, join our team, is incredible. His insight will be invaluable for our players but also how we evolve as an organisation. We have so much we can learn from sports,” commented Maxim Demin, owner and co-founder of Tundra Esports.
“Announcing his involvement through ‘Outplayed’ was a stroke of genius from P Money. It’s been great to have his support and creativity to do something different that not only helps us stand out but is also something for the community. Hopefully, the community finds it as catchy as we do.”
Headquartered in the United Kingdom, Tundra Esports was formed in 2019.
The news comes after a Guild and Tundra duo won the Gamers8 Fortnite Zero Build tournament a few days ago.
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.
