Envy brand retired as focus switches to OpTic Gaming
by Adam Fitch
·
Updated
Long-standing North American esports organization Envy is no more, with it now officially becoming one with OpTic Gaming.
The change: Hector "H3CZ" Rodriguez and Mike "Hastr0" Rufail, the founders of OpTic Gaming and Envy respectively, discussed the decision in an episode of The Eavesdrop podcast.
- Hastr0 confirmed that it was his decision to say farewell to the Envy brand and move all of its staff and resources under the OpTic Gaming brand.
- Brands under ownership of the Envy Gaming parent company now include OpTic Gaming, Call of Duty League franchise OpTic Texas, Overwatch League franchise Dallas Fuel, and the Esports Stadium Arlington.
- The decision was initially teased when OpTic Gaming unveiled that it now had a Rocket League roster β finally meeting the demand from many of its fans β and it would be the line-up that formerly represented Envy.
- The 'dynamic duo,' which Hastr0 labelled himself and H3CZ on The Eavesdrop, explained that all of its creators will indeed represent OpTic moving forward. While not explicitly announced at the time of publication, this presumably includes the Botez Sisters, CodeMiko, Athena, and JustaMinx.
The future: Envy and OpTic announced their shock merger on November 8, 2021.
- The reasoning for this additional merger is simple: it allows all of the company's resources to be funnelled into one brand instead of two.
- The setup between Envy and OpTic was convoluted even for potential investors and partners, as Hastr0 explained on the podcast. While some teams and creators had already made the switch from Blue to Green, Envy continued to house a couple of teams and a handful of content creators. Now, the organization's social media presence, staff, representatives, and partners are consolidated.
- Moving forward, the back-end of the organization looks almost identical to how it was prior to this switch. According to Dallas News, Adam Rymer will remain Chief Executive Officer, Geoff Moore will stay as Chief Operating Officer, and H3CZ will continue as President.