THE TEAM OF IBAI AND PIQUÉ

 The world of Esports is growing more and more and this is being noticed when stars like Ibai and Piqué want to be in it. The competition between videogames is something that has never been done in such a serious and official way as it is being done now, having several professional leagues for each videogame that give thousands of opportunities to players from all over the world to show their talent and dedication for videogames.

Piqué and Ibai have surprised the Esports sector by announcing that they will be buying a place in the LVP Super League (The League of Legends professional league). To put the readers in context, it is worth noting Ibai's background in the industry. He started narrating League of Legend matches in the LVP where he managed to become recognised by the whole community. In 2020 he signed for G2 Esports, an Esports team that provided him with a mansion to live in with his friends (also members of the team) and it was in 2021 when he decided to go on his own and leave G2, to create Ibailand (the new mansion where they are living). As for Piqué, he has never been so close to the world of Esports until now. His trajectory is impressive and currently, apart from being a player of FC Barcelona, he owns the rights to the Davis Cup and is the owner of Andorra FC (2ºB team in Spain).

It is also worth noting that Ibai and Piqué have already shown that they can have a great influence on the public and generate traffic on social networks (especially on Twitch) as they have recently created, carried out and perfected the Balloon World Cup: a tournament involving 24 people from different countries (all these people were Ibai's followers, unknown to the general public) in which they had to hit a balloon so that it did not touch the ground. This stream reached peaks of 600,000 people live. They have argued that it was a resounding success, as the repercussion reached even the president of the country of the participant who won, congratulating him on Twitter. They are so confident of their success that they are planning to be in a stadium with 10,000 people for next year's edition.

At the moment, not much is known about what the team will be like, such as its logo, crest, team members, etc... But they have made it clear that they want there to be feedback from the fans and that in some way the team will be a symbol of unity among all the fans of Ibai. They have also stated that they are not going to be so ambitious at the beginning, as they want to advance and learn during their stay in the LVP and be able to form a competitive team over the years and experience. Pique referred to it by saying:  " I think the first year you have to go low, low profile. Real humility. We have no pressure, no rush. We want to start from zero; do things well and create a good base “.

It's not all going so smoothly for them, though. For a start, the place cost them €300,000, something that probably wouldn't have been a problem for them if it hadn't been for the pandemic. Not so much for Ibai, as his work as a streamer has allowed him to continue generating profit during house confinement (as he did his streamings from home, and it was a great way for people to distract themselves while we couldn't go out). For Piqué it will not have been a great effort, but due to the situation of FC Barcelona and the salary reduction that some players (including Piqué) have had to take, it is clear that Piqué is committed to this project and wants to grow in the world of Esports. Also, Ibai commented that the other teams are asking for more money for the players because the other teams know that Piqué and Ibai's team have more resources and more money invested. To which Ibai replied that they don't want to spend money so easily, as they have chosen to start from the bottom and reach the top with effort and dedication.

In my opinion, I think it's great that people like Piqué, who is a public figure known for many years for his role on the football pitch, wanted to contribute, add to and enrich the world of video games. For many people, video games are just something for children and only serve to waste time. For Ibai, and many other people, video games have been the most important thing that has happened in his life. Ibai has sometimes commented that video games have helped him to escape from bad problems and that has meant that he has earned the position he is in now. Thanks to them, I am sure that the world of Esports will grow notably and will make this industry be taken more seriously by the traditional media, by people who are more distant from this world and by all the people who think that this type of competitions are not sports as such (although the sportsmen suffer from injuries, tiredness and all kinds of problems exactly like a sportsman who plays team sports). I hope that the team reach the goals they are pursuing, because they will demonstrate that this world is made for everyone who is interested in.

 

 

References:

https://www.marca.com/videojuegos/lo-mas-gaming/2021/09/28/61530517e2704e473f8b45c7.html

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaY_-ksFSQtTGk0y1HA_3YQ

https://www.twitch.tv/ibai

https://esports.as.com/league-of-legends/equipo-Ibai-Pique-anuncia-detalles_0_1497750218.html

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibai_Llanos