Credit: Immortals Gaming Club
Mentioned in this article
- Immortals Gaming Club has acquired Infinite Esports & Entertainment, parent company of OpTic Gaming and the Houston Outlaws.
- OpTic’s League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) team will rebrand as Immortals in 2020. Additionally, IGC will sell the Houston Outlaws and divest itself of OpTic’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team.
- The transaction values Infinite Esports & Entertainment at more than $100M USD. Bloomberg reports that Immortals’ overall valuation is now at $250M.
Immortals Gaming Club 
(IGC) announced today that it has acquired Infinite Esports & Entertainment , the parent company of OpTic Gaming and the Houston Outlaws Overwatch League team.
According to a release, Infinite Esports & Entertainment is valued at more than $100M USD in enterprise value, marking the ”largest change of control transaction in esports history.” As a result, Immortals Gaming Club has added OpTic Gaming alongside its current Immortals and MIBR brands, as well as the Los Angeles Valiant in the Overwatch League.
Existing Infinite investors, including Texas Rangers co-owners Neil Leibman and Ray Davis will become IGC shareholders, with Leibman joining the company’s board of directors.
Today’s announcement confirmed a report from last week about the impending transaction and follows months of uncertainty about the future of Infinite Esports & Entertainment after reports of a potential sale emerged in January. It also follows the recent announcement of IGC’s $30M USD Series B raise, along with its acquisition of Brazil’s Gamers Club matchmaking platform.
“Today, we announced a transformative transaction for our organization and a landmark transaction for our industry. Across our family of brands, OpTic; MIBR; LA Valiant; and Immortals, IGC’s total audience size is nearly three times larger than our nearest competitors,” said Immortals Gaming Club CEO Ari Segal, in a release. “At the same time, our multi-brand strategy enables us to tailor content, messaging, voice, and experience for distinct communities and audience segments, driving deeper engagement and affinity. Armed with these brands, the best fans in esports, the legacy and tradition of great teams and players, and a newly reinforced and strong balance sheet, IGC is positioned to be a market leader and model organization.”
Related Article: The Benefits and Challenges of Immortals Potential Acquisition of OpTic Gaming
IGC will sell the Houston Outlaws, as one company cannot own two Overwatch League teams. The organization will oversee the Outlaws in the meantime, “as a distinct entity with its own dedicated staff,” according to a release. League representatives will also monitor Outlaws operations until a sale is completed.
“We remain excited by IGC’s vision for building the Los Angeles Valiant, and in order to ensure competitive integrity, as a condition of approving this merger, IGC will operate the Valiant and the Houston Outlaws as entirely separate entities with close oversight from the League Office,” said Pete Vlastelica, president and CEO of Activision Blizzard Esports Leagues and Overwatch League commissioner, in a release. “We believe this merger and temporary operational agreement is in the best interests of both teams.”
According to the release, the transaction has already been approved by both Riot Games and Activision Blizzard.
IGC will also divest itself of OpTic Gaming’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team, as it already competes in the game via its MIBR brand. OpTic Gaming’s League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) team will maintain its branding throughout the current season before rebranding under the Immortals banner for 2020. However, the OpTic Gaming brand may live on in Call of Duty , as the release suggests an effort to obtain a spot in the upcoming geolocated Call of Duty franchise league.
“Clearly OpTic is a premier Call of Duty brand,” said Peter Levin, managing director of Griffin Gaming Partners and chairman of IGC’s board of directors, in a release. “We are excited to work with our partners at Activision Blizzard to ensure that OpTic continues to play that leading role in Call of Duty‘s future.”
According to Bloomberg, a source familiar with the terms of the transaction claimed that Immortals Gaming Club is now valued at $250M following the acquisition.
