Samsung sells LoL champions to KSV

By Ko Dong-hwan

Samsung Group has sold its e-sports team Samsung Galaxy, the professional gamers who dominated global competitions for popular games like League of Legend (LoL), to a joint e-sports investor group from South Korea and the U.S.

KSV, an acronym for Korea and Silicon Valley, bought the team from Cheil Worldwide, a marketing company under the South Korean global conglomerate.

KSV is an e-sports collaboration between the Californian tech group and Seoul, combining the skills and dedication of South Korea’s e-sports culture and the investment and global reach of Silicon Valley.

KSV CEO Kevin Chou said he considered Samsung Galaxy’s “superb skills and exceptional teamwork that had led to winning the LoL world championship this year” as good reasons for acquiring the team.

KSV now owns e-sports teams with winning records in four major world championships ― Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm, Battlegrounds and LoL.

Kang Chan-yong, a LoL player and the team’s captain with the nickname “Ambition,” expressed his nickname-wise determination to extend his team’s winning records.

Developed and released by Riot Games in 2009, LoL became the most played PC game in North America and Europe in terms of hours.

It garnered increasing popularity, with 100 million players estimated each month as of September 2016 and international competitions in Los Angeles, Berlin, China, South Korea, Taiwan and Southeast Asia, culminating in an annual world championship.

First winning the 2008 Shinhan Bank StarCraft Pro League in South Korea, Samsung Galaxy won Ongamenet LoL Champions Spring in 2014 and grabbed first and second prizes at LoL world championships 2014 and 2016, respectively.

The team beat South Korean rival SK Telecom T1 in the final round of this year’s championship, held in an Olympic stadium in Beijing.

The sale of Galaxy reflects Samsung’s steps to downsize its e-sports business.

Samsung Electronics stopped sponsoring World Cyber Games, an international competitive video gaming event operated by South Korean firm World Cyber Games, in 2013, ending a 13-year partnership.

Samsung Electronics sold the right to operate the games to Smilegate Holdings early this year.

Samsung sold Galaxy to concentrate on semiconductors and smartphones because the company believes the team does not promote Samsung Electronics as much as originally expected.

Another analysis links the sale to Jun Byung-hun, the former senior presidential secretary for political affairs in the Moon Jae-in administration, who was questioned by prosecutors on a bribery charge in late November.

He has been accused of having influenced Lotte Homeshopping, a local home-shopping channel, to donate 330 million won ($303,700) to the Korea e-Sports Association in 2015, which he created.

Seoul Central District Court rejected the writ filed against him.

Samsung possibly sold Galaxy to clear its connection with e-sports business to avoid prosecution, according to the analysis.

Other than Galaxy, Samsung owns 12 professional sports teams in South Korea, including Suwon Samsung Bluewings (football), Samsung Lions (baseball), Samsung Bluefangs (volleyball) and Seoul Samsung Thunders (basketball).