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KOI x Rogue Alliance for LEC 2023 season

After holding fans in limbo for more than two months, KOI and Rogue officially announce their merging. When discussing... Scott Kostov | 7. October 2022

After holding fans in limbo for more than two months, KOI and Rogue officially announce their merging.

When discussing highly profiled esports brands in Europe, KOI must be a part of the conversation. So a natural next step in the organization’s growth would be competing in every game’s highest tiers of competition. That’s what brings us here, months before 2023 starts, with KOI and Rogue announcing their alliance. 

KOI take over Rogue

In a way, Rogue ceases to exist with this move. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Despite finding moderate success in the competitive scenes of several games, Rogue have been struggling to create a dedicated fan base. On the other hand, KOI have capitalized on a massive following with sound business decisions, but to no avail. Spanish internet celebrity and owner of KOI, Ibai Llanos Garatea, broke the news on a live stream on his Twitch channel. Despite having enough money to buy out a LEC slot, them taking control over the infrastructure Rogue had built, made more sense. 

Despite having partnership offers from three LEC and one LCS team, KOI chose Rogue. KOI will inherit Rogue’s facilities, teams, coaches, vehicles, and everything included. The teams will be under one brand name next year, which was one of the main conditions KOI’s owner set during the negotiations. Nobody from Rogue will be fired, while the ERL teams from both teams will merge and compete in the Spanish LVP under the KOI banner. While this does signal the end of AGO Rogue, everything else in the organization should stay the same. 

KOI is a global brand now

Ibai said that he will oversee and contribute to the major esports decisions that Rogue management makes, while he takes care of the business, promotion, and growth aspects of the organization. With a promising VCT team in the works, alongside the already existing League, TFT, and FIFA teams KOI had, the future looks bright. Rogue’s rosters in Rocket League, COD, and R6 join the Spanish organization, creating one of the most omnipresent organizations in all of esports. English-speaking content creators, English social media accounts, co-streams hosted by Ibai and many more options are being discussed to help bridge the transition from the Spanish audience to the entire world. 

Rogue should be happy

Despite only receiving a 40-60 split in terms of percentages and losing naming rights, Rogue should be satisfied with the deal. 40% of a global brand that’s going to generate revenue in ways Rogue couldn’t imagine is a great deal. Ibai has said that no crypto money will be flowing into the organization and considering Rogue approached him for the merger, it seems many feelings are mutual. The timing also couldn’t be better for Rogue, as they start their World Championship quest in the Group stage. The reigning LEC champions are now backed by the biggest esports fan base in Europe and the fourth biggest streamer on Twitch.