WISE Ventures Esports, the parent company of Call of Duty League franchise Minnesota RØKKR, has launched Version1.
The new brand, which is co-owned by the Wilf family and entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, has initially entered Psyonix’s title Rocket League.
RELATED: Behind XSET’s Rocket League entrance following sweeping changes to RLCS
Version1 will compete in RLCS X, the newly-formed esports initiative from Psyonix for its Rocket League title. RLCS: The Grid, which begins on August 7th, will include the brand.
Jonathan Wilf, President of WISE Ventures Esports, spoke on the expansion in a release: “As we considered our next opportunity in esports and professional gaming, we wanted to diversify our content and audience, to continue building our fan base. Rocket League Championship Series not only has a growing audience-base, but recent restructuring of league competition presented a ground-up opportunity that fits the organization’s longer-term objectives.”
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RELATED: Psyonix discusses shifting RLCS to events circuit, feedback from teams
Last month, Psyonix unveiled RLCS X and quickly followed up the announcement with confirmation that it would be produced by DreamHack. Esports Insider spoke with the developer to get an understanding of why organisations had been fleeing the scene, shifting the competition to an events circuit, and the future of the title’s competitive endeavours.
Brett Diamond, Chief Operating Officer of WISE Ventures Esports, added: “We had a unique opportunity to enter Rocket League Championship Series with a top tier roster and we are thrilled to welcome Torment, Gimmick, AxB and Coach Fireburner to our family as we begin to engage with the Rocket League community. Our philosophy with Røkkr has been to build this organization one fan at a time and that will continue to be our focus with Version1.
Esports Insider says: It seems as if it was a necessity for WISE to launch a new brand if it wanted to operate outside of the Call of Duty League, as per the competition’s rules around having a unique team brand. It’s interesting to see the recent influx in investment surrounding Rocket League after its turbulent few months prior to the RLCS X announcement.
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