Longzhu Gaming Sold to Chinese Company Kingzone
Longzhu Gaming, the popular League of Legends team, has been sold to Chinese company Kingzone, according to an announcement made by Longzhu’s CEO “Plufriend” on Weibo.
In June, Longzhu TV, the parent organization of Longzhu Gaming, faced a conflict of interest. Suning Commerce Group, a major Chinese company that acquired Longzhu TV in 2016, also owned another League of Legends team called Suning Gaming. However, this violated Riot Games’ rule which prohibited organizations from owning multiple teams in the major regional leagues.
Plufriend, in his Weibo post which was translated by chopsky.tv, revealed that Riot Games informed him of this violation soon after Suning Gaming qualified for the 2017 LPL Summer Split. Despite fighting to keep both teams for six months, Plufriend and Suning were reluctantly forced to sell Longzhu Gaming.
For the upcoming LCK 2018 season, Longzhu Gaming will be rebranded as Kingzone. It is worth noting that Kingzone is also a Chinese owned organization. This move follows KSV Esports’ acquisition of Samsung Galaxy, making Longzhu the second team in the league to be rebranded in 2018.
Longzhu TV first entered League of Legends in early 2016 after acquiring LCK team Incredible Miracle. However, the team faced financial problems over the years, leading to temporary control of the team by the Korean esports association for the 2017 LCK Summer Split. Despite this setback, Longzhu went on to have its best league performance, winning the Summer Split title over SK Telecom T1.
As of now, Kingzone has not made a public announcement regarding this recent acquisition.
Longzhu Gaming, Chinese company, Kingzone, League of Legends, conflict of interest, Suning Commerce Group, rebranding, LCK, financial problems, Riot Games, acquisition.