Ninjas in Pajamas has announced the merger with China’s ESV5 Group into the newly founded NiP Group. As part of the deal, Team Victory Five will take on the Swedish eSports team name starting next season. Three years after NiP left the “League of Legends” elite, the traditional Swedish clan is now back. In addition, ESV5’s eStar Gaming team that specializes in mobile gaming is integrated. NiP is thus gaining a foothold in the “Wild Rift”, the traveling branch of the “League of Legends”.
The news was not surprising for fans of ninjas, because rumors about him have been around for a long time. In fact, the two organizations finalized the deal on July 9. Economists expect the newly founded NiP group to go public on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange this year.
NiP: The difference will remain
Nothing will change for the current NiP teams in “CS: GO”, “Valorant”, “Rainbow Six Siege” or “FIFA” – they will all be taken care of from the previous location in Sweden. Meanwhile, the new “League of Legends” team is in Shenzhen. Aside from the ESV5 deal, a lot has happened at the Swedish organization in recent months. The rebranding in January was followed by the transfer of one of the most popular “CS:GO” players to NiP: Nicolai “dev1ve” Reedtz. With the Danish superstar in their ranks, the team wants to win the title in the next major tournament in Stockholm (start: October 23, 2021).
NiP will have two CEOs in the future: Hisham Shaheen, who has headed the company for five years, is responsible for the European and US teams, while Mario Hu of ESV5 will oversee the business in Asia. They both have a lot to do, because ESV5’s “League of Legends” team ended up last without a win at the end of this year’s summer season.
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