Fortnite: Overtime Acquires Evade, Expands its Esports Endeavor
| Tags: Fortnite
| Author Matt Pryor
Overtime Gaming has arrived, and they are looking to deepen their impact on esports in a significant way.
Overtime Sports is expanding its efforts in esports, beginning with a high-profile acquisition of popular Fortnite organization, Evade. In addition to acquiring Evade, Overtime Sports is also establishing Overtime Gaming, which will represent their presence in esports and gaming as a whole. Overtime made an official announcement early this morning regarding the monumental decision:
“Overtime Gaming combines the strengths of Evade and Team Overtime, the company’s existing Fortnite team. In just a year of existence, Evade has grown into a significant presence within the Fortnite world, with a community of more than 600,000 followers and a strong roster of competitive players.”
— Orangie (@orangie) February 4, 2020
The competitive Fortnite players that moved over in the Evade acquisition are Kariyu, Orange, Pocket, Spayde and Tweaks. These five players join Aircool, Inspyre and Thresh to complete Overtime Gaming’s current professional Fortnite roster. Evade’s former owner, Hantao Yuan, has also joined the Overtime Gaming ranks as head of the entire team. Yuan expressed some words regarding Overtime and their strive in expanding upon their already expansive community.
“Overtime comes to the table with a large community, an existing infrastructure for developing and selling content, and expertise in merchandising. That combo is unique in the gaming world. Together, we can bring gaming content and gaming fans to much larger and much different audiences, on new platforms and in real life.”
Hungry for more than just results
The newly established Overtime Gaming already has a leg up on the competition. Their Fortnite roster before Evade came onboard featured some outstanding players. One of these players is Inspyre, who took 11th place along with his three squadmates in the Chapter 2 Season 1 Fortnite Champion Series Finals. Now eight hungry Fortnite players comprise the Overtime Gaming roster. However, Overtime is looking to accomplish much more than noteworthy results in competitive Fortnite.
In the official press release, Overtime’s CEO and co-founder, Dan Porter, stated:
“Stories about players’ lives, challenges and hopes are told everywhere in traditional sports. There’s a massive opportunity to tell those stories in gaming, I couldn’t be more excited to work with Hantao and our team to find those stories and help tell them in a way that speaks to our community and the next generation.”
Overtime’s focus on story-driven content is something that the Fortnite scene often lacks. Except for a handful of popular streamers, many Fortnite players don't live in the same spotlight as other esports competitors. It’s undoubtedly a step in the right direction overall as we look to learn more about this talented Fortnite roster. With Fortnite Chapter 2 – Season 2 rapidly approaching, Overtime Gaming is looking to make a significant push this year and into the future.