Team Vitality takes on the game “StarCraft II” with a Korean team

Video game news with our consultant, Laure Valée, for an esports meeting dedicated to the biggest French esports club, Vitality, and the intergalactic combat strategy game “StarCraft II” with Asian players.

Team Vitality, the first French esports club, is of course present at the games League of Legends, Counter Strike Or Call of Duty, and now launches on StarCraft II. An intergalactic combat strategy game. And for that, Vitality relies on a team of Korean players.

franceinfo: So when you don’t know the environment, it can be surprising. What is the idea behind this?

Laure Valée: So we remind you, Vitality, which is a major French and international club on the esports scene, is joining forces here with an existing Korean team, called ONSYDE, and is entering the game StarCraft II. And where it’s interesting is that StarCraft IIit is one of the pillars of history, one of the games which founded and built esports, at the end of the 90s/2000s, and which continues today.

And it was a game that was popular, especially in South Korea, where we had the best players. So here, when we see that Vitality is partnering with Korean players as well, I think it makes a lot of sense, and we are aiming for good results.

Is it quite common to see teams, clubs like Vitality, paying foreign players like a football club would do?

It’s true that it may come as a surprise, but in esports, it makes sense since we’ve had Western, North American and European teams for quite a few years now, who will seek out South Korean players. to strengthen their teams, since generally in most titles, South Korea is very advanced and very developed in relation to esports.

Starcraft II was a game that was really democratized, even broadcast on television, in the early 2000s. So South Korea is a lot ahead, and has really accepted esports culturally for a long time. And it’s true that they have, for the most part, the best players in the world. So for Vitality, looking for South Korean players to get good results quickly is something that makes sense and is easily explained.

Vitality really wants to expand internationally. This is something they started last year, notably by looking for a team of Call of Duty Mobile in India. So there you have it, Vitality is truly an international team, and will seek the best strategic means to position itself in the four corners of the world.

And in terms of results, what does this recruitment mean for Vitality?

Well these players made their debut under the colors of Vitality at IEM Katowice 2024 last week. It’s a major competition, really for the game Starcraft II. And at the end of this competition, Maru, player for Vitality, came in second position, behind Serral, who is one of the great champions in the game. Maru, we recall, who finished vice-champion of the world in 2023. So, Vitality wants to have good results quickly, and things are off to a pretty good start for them.