In an online chat with fans, Riot Games esports executive Chris Hopper declined to discuss why some teams didn’t make the cut, calling the decision “really difficult.”
Esports competitions generate money from ticket sales, corporate sponsorships and team merchandise. The Immortals’ sponsors come from the video game world: HP Inc., chairmaker LF Gaming and Bloody Gaming, which sells mouses and other accessories. Stein’s Team Liquid has 12 sponsors including Monster Beverage Corp. listed on its website.
Whinston’s company houses its two dozen pros in an apartment building in Marina Del Rey. Players practice from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Immortals’ Culver City campus. They scrimmage and in some cases play other teams, working from inside a handful of garage-like “pods.” Lunch and dinner are provided. Physical therapists and sports psychologists are on call.
The 20,000-square-foot property is among the first standalone training facilities for esports. Previously players lived and practiced in houses rented by the company. Whinston lived in one with nine other people. “I lasted 18 months,” he said. When the new Overwatch League season starts, teams will compete in a theater Activision leases in Burbank, California.
Whinston said his approach to picking teams involves a mix of data and human dynamics. Eight of his 11 Overwatch players are under 20 years old, green even by esports standards. Seb Barton, a U.K. native who goes by the name Numlocked, is an elder statesman at 24. He’s an important part of the team, Whinston said, because his effusive personality rallies others when they’re not performing well.
“We’re not looking to go out there, sign the biggest name free agents, and just try to throw them in a room and hope it all works out,” Whinston said. “We’re not the New York Yankees of esports. We’re not trying to be.”
—With assistance from Eben Novy-Williams