There seems to finally be a winner in the bidding war for Infinite Esports. Between Immortals and previous OpTic Gaming owner, H3CZ, the larger wallet of Immortals has won out.
[irp posts=”24784″ name=”UPDATE: Earlier Infinite/Immortals report could be false”]
This saga comes to an end at long last, unless something goes truly awry in the final days. According to multiple sources, the sale of Infinite to Immortals will be finalized on May 31. Infinite owes a $20 million banknote, which is what Immortals will pay Infinite initially.
This note is not the final amount Immortals will pay. It is simply a down payment so Infinite knows they are serious about their offer. In return, Infinite put up OpTic Gaming’s NA LCS spot as collateral with the bank. If $20 million is not paid by May 31st, the LCS spot will be the bank’s property.
Of course, along with Infinite comes OpTic Gaming. Owning the majority stake in OpTic, once Infinite sells to Immortals, the entirety of OpTic will be owned by Immortals. This includes player/creator contracts, but more importantly the brand itself.
So where does this leave OpTic Gaming?
A murky outlook for Optic
While there remains a sliver of hope for the Greenwall, the future looks grim. Immortals solely want OpTic’s NA LCS spot, which is what initially sparked their interest in purchasing Infinite. However, it is reported that even though they will own numerous high-profile contracts and esports teams, they will release a majority of them.
OpTic currently has close to 50 members under contract. It’s expected that some might take a pay cut to stay with Immortals, but most will look for other employment. This obviously means the end of the OpTic Gaming brand.
Although there is some hope Immortals will allow H3CZ to buy back the brand, that remains a far-off possibility. If it does decide to keep H3CZ out, each of OpTic’s esports teams will be sold one by one. There are reports that OpTic’s Call of Duty team will be sold player by player before CWL Anaheim in June.
However, no one can say H3CZ didn’t try for the team he started from scratch. He and his partners did make an offer, but it was apparently “laughable” compared to the $20 million that won out.
The future for Immortals
For the time being, it looks like Immortals are back in the LCS after a two-year hiatus. Once they officially acquire Infinite, the Houston Outlaws will be shopped for a few months since Immortals already owns the L.A. Valiant.
It’s unclear at the moment if they will go the content creation route, however. A majority of OpTic creators will leave or be released, so Immortals will be left with a few teams to sell and their coveted LCS spot.
UPDATE: There is a reason to believe that this report may be false. Click here to check out why.
We will be sure to keep you updated with any further developments to this story on our news page.
