McLaren Seoul has partnered with Korean esports organisation DragonX (DRX), according to a tweet from the official DRX account on May 27th.
Terms of the deal have not been disclosed at the time of writing. This is McLaren’s first esports partnership, but luxury car brands are not new to esports.
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DragonX, like many teams in the LCK, focuses almost entirely on League of Legends. It also fields teams in Honor of Kings and Clash Royale, however. DragonX, previously Kingzone DragonX, won the LCK Spring Split in 2018 and placed second at MSI that same year. This year, the team finished third in the Spring Split having, for the last three years, been considered one of the best in the LCK.
Mercedes-Benz has been involved in esports for quite some time, including its part-ownership of SK Gaming, and BMW recently partnered with five major esports organisations as its first global marketing initiative in the industry.
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Car brands are clearly seeing the opportunity in League of Legends, especially the LCK. Gen.G Esports, formerly LCK powerhouse Samsung Galaxy, signed a deal with Mercedes-Benz dealer Hang Sun Motor Co. in March, and T1 Sports & Entertainment – formerly known as three-time League of Legends championship side SK Telecom T1 – is one of the BMW’s five global partners.
Esports Insider says: A dominant League of Legends team seems to be one of the quickest ways to get major brands to join an organisation – especially when targeting automotive brands. Esports’ ongoing brush with luxury brands like McLaren and Louis Vuitton show that previous misconceptions about gaming demographics are going away all the time.