KSV Esports has announced the acquisition of 2017’s League of Legends World Champions roster from Samsung Galaxy. The global esports startup, which was founded with investments from within Korea and Silicon Valley, will field the squad in the League Champions Korea competition next year under a new brand.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]KSV Esports will field the squad in the League Champions Korea competition next year under a new brand.[/perfectpullquote]

Following the company’s successful bid into the Overwatch League, reports indicated that KSV Esports had begun courting various LCK teams. Speaking to The Esports Observer, KSV owner and founder Kevin Chou said that early talks with Samsung began a few months prior to the team’s World Championship victory.

“Things were on again, off again,” he said. “Then as they went into Worlds and won, it presented a unique set of new things to think about, and negotiate with.” According to Chou, the company came close to deals with other teams, when it appeared an agreement with Samsung would not come to pass. “Ultimately, when there was an opportunity to acquire a championship team with a player roster that loves playing together, it was a no-brainer.”

As per Blizzard Entertainment’s requirements, the Seoul Dynasty brand must remain exclusive to the Overwatch League. Chou notes that KSV Esports was never meant to be a consumer brand, and that the team’s other squads in Heroes of the Storm, PLAYER UNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS and now League of Legends will play under a different identity.

“About a month and a half ago, we started to work on what the remainder of what our teams will be called. We’re working through that feverishly, and we hope to be able to announce by the time the new League of Legends season starts, in January.”

Alongside the acquisition of the Samsung Galaxy roster, KSV Esports announced it had opened a new Shanghai office, adding to its locations in Seoul and San Francisco. With key esports promotional channels such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitch inaccessible in China, this is a necessary step for KSV to further tap into the fanbase Samsung Galaxy helped build with it’s Worlds victory in the country earlier this year.

“China requires a different set of deals to be done, different companies to work with,” says Chou. “As we focus on video production and streaming, we’ve been in discussions with multiple Chinese partners to bring that content that we’re already producing in Korean and English into the Chinese market.”

[perfectpullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Part of KSV Esport’s core strategy is to develop it’s Korean esports teams into recognizable global brands.[/perfectpullquote]

Part of KSV Esport’s core strategy is to develop it’s Korean esports teams into recognizable global brands. This is already underway with small initiatives, such as Seoul Dynasty Tweeting to fans in both English and Korean. “To build a Korean championship team into the world’s first truly global esports business, KSV has prepped itself to grow internationally for the past several months,” said Arnold Hur, Chief Growth Officer of KSV. “There is tremendous potential for Korea to build on its reputation as the center of global esports, and KSV will put all possible investment to help its teams compete and earn recognition at a global level.”

As evident by the fact that Samsung Galaxy and fellow Korean team SK Telecom T1 were finalists at Worlds, LCK currently stands as League of Legends’ highest-level professional competition. Yet unlike the NA LCS, EU LCS or even China’s LPL, the Korean league has no immediate franchising plans. Kevin Chou, who says his company has entered its first discussions with Riot Games, hopes the LCK will adopt the permanent partnership model of its North American counterpart.

“Our goal is to get into League of Legends, compete at a great level, invest in our players, tell the story of the players and team,” he says. “If franchising does come to that region, we’ll be in a great position to put together a great application that says we started with a championship team.”

Another defining difference in Korean LoL is a lower number of sponsor agreements for professional teams. Samsung, like other teams like KT Rolster and Afreeca Freecs, is content to play with their conglomerate as the only name on the jersey. “Their owner is, essentially, a sponsor,” says Kevin. “Our view is that we’re definitely going to pioneer and break the meta in Korea, in terms of how we run an esports organization, and develop the business aspects of it.”

KSV will send it’s Overwatch team to play at Blizzard’s LA Arena next year, with Seoul Dynasty to eventually get its own dedicated arena. Though the company wants to focus on event infrastructure, Riot will keep all games in its own studio, which will launch next year. “There are some things as a team owner we cannot fully control,” Chou says. “Riot is building out their own arena. To the extent that they require all the games to be played there, then we’re going to go play there.” He adds, though, that some of the other KSV teams, like for PUBG, might offer an opportunity for KSV to host its own invitationals.