Activision Reportedly Denied A London Royal Ravens Rebrand Amid KOI Takeover
Spanish Giants KOI - an esports organisation owned by the 4th biggest Twitch streamer of all time Ibai Llanos and FC Barcelona football Gerard Pique - has joined forces with London Royal Ravens' parent organisation Rogue. They're taking over their esports teams in Call of Duty, Rocket League, and League of Legends. However, the CDL team has already proven a tricky acquisition.
KOI has one of the biggest fan bases in the esports universe, often packing out stadiums for the old League of Legends team in exhibition matches or topping viewership records on Twitch despite the team only competing in the second tier of LoL.
Now, they are adding three new teams to their portfolio with Rogue's partnership, yet London Royal Ravens will not be switching up their brand to incorporate the organisation. Not by choice though, apparently.
Ibai Rules Out London Royal Ravens Rebrand
In a conference held by Ibai discussing the merger, the famous streamer revealed that all of Rogue's teams will be rebranding to KOI, with the exception of London Royal Ravens.
According to the owner himself, Activision rulings have denied any rebranding of London Royal Ravens to KOI.
"All the Rogue teams start to rebrand to the KOI name, except CoD team for a rule in Activision who deny the LRR rebrand to KOI," the owner reportedly said, in a translation given on Twitter.
Will London Royal Ravens Rebrand?
It appears to be quite a tumultuous time over at London Royal Ravens. Not only is the takeover from KOI coming into place, but they persist as only one of two teams not to have announced a Call of Duty League roster for the Modern Warfare 2 season. Coincidentally, the only other squad is Vegas Legion, who underwent a rebrand themselves.
The ruling comes as quite a surprise, though, given that we've seen a few CDL rebrands over the past four seasons. The abolishment of the Chicago Huntsmen and Dallas Empire brands speak to that token, while Vegas Legion and OpTic Texas are walking proof that CDL teams can change up their looks. It's quite clear that rebrands can happen in the CDL, so it remains a mystery why KOI isn't allowed to feather the wings of the Ravens in their own way.
