Last week, esports organization Immortals announced the completion of a $30M USD Series B funding round, along with the acquisition of Brazilian matchmaking platform Gamers Club. The organization intends to use that capital to seek new opportunities which, according to a report by ESPN, could include acquiring OpTic Gaming
The report states that Immortals is among the bidders looking to acquire part of Infinite Esports & Entertainment
Immortals already owns an Overwatch League
Credit: Activision
After acquiring a spot from Team 8, Immortals joined the LCS in 2015, and remained in the league until its application for the franchise system was rejected in 2017. At that time the organization ceased all League of Legends operations. Last year, the organization also exited Dota 2
Not only would the acquisition of OpTic mean a return to the LCS for the organization, but the potential opportunity to expand into a third franchised league: the Call of Duty
The publisher has already proven that it values working with existing OWL owners with its first five team announcements, all of which currently own Overwatch League franchises. Immortals has no presence in Call of Duty, but acquiring OpTic would give the organization cache in the space and allow Activision Blizzard to work with another OWL owner. What’s more, Immortals operates one of the league’s Los Angeles, California, franchises – a city that is likely to be high on Activision Blizzard’s priority list for including in the Call of Duty League, given that the publisher put two of its initial OWL franchises there.
Credit: Immortals Gaming Club
Assuming Immortals is indeed interested in bidding for part of Infinite (the organization declined to comment for this piece) and was able to win, the largest potential hurdle to this major expansion plan would Riot Games’
That said, Immortals has changed dramatically since 2017. The organization has added experience to its leadership team in CEO Ari Segal, who replaced Noah Whinston, as well as board member and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman. Immortals implemented an uncommon business strategy for an esports team by expanding to include multiple team brands, and making the largely untapped Brazilian market a point of focus. It has also joined the likes of Team SoloMid, Cloud9, and Gen.G (all of whom operate prominent League of Legends teams) in raising at least $30M in disclosed funding.
While its intentions remain unconfirmed, the move to acquire part of Infinite Esports & Entertainment could certainly be attractive to Immortals. It aligns with the company’s expansion strategy, would bring an established brand back to the LCS, and allow the organization to reach a level that only one other organization has been able to achieve so far.