Mentioned in this article Teams: Limit Games: World of Warcraft

Limit adds health brand GNC as a sponsor for raid progression through Battle for Azeroth.

GNC will provide Limit with a nutritional adviser and supplements while they raid.

GNC joins other traditional sports health and medicine brands like Hyperice by activating in esports.

High profile American World of Warcraft guild Limit has added a sponsorship deal with health and wellness supplement brand GNC, as the team prepares for the game’s upcoming raid release.

Signing a deal that extends through the latest WoW expansion Battle for Azeroth, which released in the fall, GNC will provide Limit with supplements and a nutritional adviser as the guild attempts to assist the team’s efforts to be the best North American raiding guild.

Raiding in WoW consists of a group of players, usually 10-30, working together in a player vs. environment setting to defeat a collection of enemy bosses that have preset mechanics. As WoW has grown, certain play groups, referred to as “guilds,” have established themselves for their proficiency in being able beating Blizzard Entertainment’s raids before anyone else can.

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Though technically there isn’t a player-vs-player aspect to raiding, guilds across the globe compete with one another to be the first to finish new raids, which typically release a couple times a year. Limit is one of those groups that has made a name for itself among raiding guilds.

With the Battle of Dazar’alor raid due to open after the holiday season, Limit’s deal with GNC is an attempt to keep players healthy as they look to be the first guild to progress through the raid’s hardest “Mythic” difficulty, according to Limit’s guild master and raid leader Max Smith.

“During our progress through Uldir, our raiders were so pumped to be doing as well as we were, that adrenaline took over where poor nutrition was lacking,” Smith said in a statement. “We had raiders who were not eating and not sleeping, and ultimately burning out when we needed our team to be at its best. When we saw the opportunity to work with GNC to help aid us with that problem going into Battle of Dazar’alor, it seemed like the perfect fit.”

GNC innovation council member and franchise owner Casey Nickell will serve as Limit’s nutritional advisor, and he believes that the guild’s commitment to player health is important for players online and in everyday life.

“Limit Guild strives to be the best with their quality of play, community efforts, and are determined to not only be the best, but to FEEL their best,” Nickell said. “That is where GNC comes in. … This partnership is designed to show people that you can play at a high level online, but you can also be at your best when you’re not.”

GNC’s dive into esports represents a growing focus on wellness in gaming that has traditional sports brands making sponsorships. At the beginning of November, therapy equipment manufacturer Hyperice started a marketing campaign featuring Pittsburgh Steelers wideout JuJu Smith-Schuster that focused on the NFL player’s love for gaming.