Rogue, current LEC champions, and their metaverse-focused parent company Infinite Reality, have officially joined forces with Spanish org Koi.
Koi were founded in late 2021 by former LVP caster and Twitch star Ibai Llanos and professional footballer and founder of sports media investment firm Kosmos, Gerard Piqué.
The ‘strategic alliance’ kicks off in early 2023 and will see the organisations combining their strengths in Europe.
A press releases stated that, ‘together, Rogue and Koi will leverage Infinite Reality’s expertise to develop highly engaging Metaverse experiences in the esports space and beyond to deliver best in class experiences for fans’.
Fans from around the globe will be able to connect with Ibai and Gerard Piqué within their own individualised metaverse environments, as well as experience original content, live events, exclusive brand activations, digital and IRL merch and more.
In July 2022, Infinite Reality (iR) announced the completion of the previously reported acquisition of ReKTGlobal for a purchase price of $470m.
“Having established Rogue as a world-leading talent factory with championship winning teams, we could not be more thrilled to be working with Koi.”
Anna Baumann, Infinite Reality
Ibai Llanos, the social media celebrity and Twitch star who operates the fourth most followed channel in the world, will serve as a featured ambassador of the partnership across both Koi and Rogue, including Koi’s esports teams in the pro Valorant league and LVP SuperLiga, as well as Rogue’s teams in Call of Duty, Rocket League, Rainbow Six, and the LEC-winning League of Legends roster (the number one LEC seed entering into next week’s Worlds competition).
“I couldn’t be more proud of Koi and what we’ve been able to achieve in such a short period of time,” said Koi co-owner Ibai Llanos. “This partnership with Rogue and Infinite Reality just accelerates our growth and broadens our opportunities to provide the most engaging and exciting experiences for our fans. ¡Vamos!”
“Infinite Reality is delighted to partner with Ibai and Gerard to bring these two amazing organizations together,” added Infinite Reality CEO John Acunto. “We’ll continue to build upon the successes of these great teams to become the dominant force in esports and entertainment in the metaverse. The fans will be the ultimate winners in this transformative alliance.”
“Having established Rogue as a world-leading talent factory with championship winning teams, we could not be more thrilled to be working with Koi. With this alliance, we can up the game and serve our fans even more industry-leading entertaining content, all while continuing to build Ibai’s legacy in esports,” commented Anna Baumann, executive VP of esports at Infinite Reality.
Esports community reacts to Rogue Koi partnership
Esports industry personalities and fans responded to the announcement on Twitter and more.
Caedrel, LEC caster and Excel Esports streamer, said:
Journalist Tom Matthiesen said Rogue’s bland brand will be transformed into a successful one:
One Rogue fan added:
Rainbow Six coach and analyst Hybrid added they’re super happy to see Koi involved in the Siege European League.
H2K founder and esports agent and content creator Rich Wells said with the G2 Carlos situation, Rogue will become a top three brand overnight:
We’ll update this with more comments as they come in.
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.
