Announced today, drummer Daniel Platzman and lead guitarist Wayne Sermon have invested in the REKTGlobal, and are now co-owners of the company’s esports team, Rogue.
This isn’t the bands first dive into the esports world. In fact, Imagine Dragons officially entered the esports scene back in 2014; they wrote the song “Warriors” for the League of Legends World Championships. They also performed at the Seoul World Cup Stadium in South Korea to 40,000 fans and 27 million online viewers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyaSty7ldRI
Although the band met while attending Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, they relocated to Las Vegas in 2009 and have been based in Vegas since. So the fact that the band would invest in an esports team based in the same city, such as Rogue, actually makes a lot of sense.
According to Derek Nelson, CEO and one of the founders of Rogue, “The Imagine Dragons team is going to be an important part of Rogue’s future and the future of Las Vegas.”
REKTGlobal was founded in 2016 by Amish Shah and David Bialek, and was created “to serve the esports ecosystem in its entirety by bringing in best practices from sports, media, and entertainment.” However, where REKTGlobal has gained the most popularity is from their esports team, Rogue, which have competed in many games including Overwatch. REKTGlocal’s Rogue team included Overwatch League pros SoOn, akm, and uNKOE, and has won several major tournaments against world-class talent and represented France in the 2017 Overwatch World Cup before disbanding to sign onto the newly-franchised OWL teams.
As esports gains popularity, It’s interested to see the competitive gaming world colliding with actors and celebrities with several owning or investing in teams such as Shaquille O’Neal, Marshawn Lynch, Jennifer Lopez, Alex Rodriguez, Rick Fox, and Magic Johnson.
Stay tuned for more info.