HTC has announced that it has jumped on the eSports bandwagon and will be sponsoring teams in the upcoming League of Legends Championship series. Cloud 9, Team Liquid, and Team Solo Mid will benefit from this new arrangement, although no details were announced.
The Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer has had a bumpy time over the last few years; and despite this, has still managed to sponsor major sporting events like the UEFA Champions League and Europa League. This, however, marks the first time that it is taking a step into eSports.
HTC is proud to sponsor Team Liquid, TSM & Cloud 9 in the League of Legends Championship Series! Follow the action: http://t.co/m0bkYWvuVG
— HTC USA (@HTCUSA) January 24, 2015
It should be noted that while all three sponsored teams compete in more than just LoL, HTC’s celebratory tweet only mentions the one game. Whether the deal covers other titles like Dota 2 and Counterstrike: Global Offensive is still yet unknown. Although it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to hope that it does.
Few smartphone manufacturers are involved with eSports, despite the electronics industry being closely tied to the fast growing competitive scene. HTC’s rivals Samsung already support two LoL teams (Samsung White and Samsung Blue), although that deal is not so much sponsorship as it is outright ownership.
A series of collaborative videos is also planned involving members of all three teams. It could be that HTC is putting together a documentary style series that has become popular with eSports; or it could simply be using the popularity of the LoL competitive scene for a new advertisement campaign.
[Source: The Daily Dot]
