OpTic Gaming has signed popular Call of Duty: Warzone streamer ZLaner, the organization announced today.
The announcement comes on the heels of an accidental leak from OpTic Texas player Shotzzy, who mentioned ZLaner’s signing on stream earlier today before tomorrow’s scheduled announcement. After the OpTic-Envy merger was made official earlier today, it was announced that Envy Warzone streamers Bobby Poff, Teep, and Sebas would be creating content under the OpTic Gaming branding.
ZLaner has amassed over 365,000 subscribers on YouTube since playing with popular streamer Dr Disrespect in 2020. He’s also competed in and won many Warzone tournaments over the past year and a half.
It is not clear if OpTic Warzone is merely for content creation or a foray into competitive Warzone, a scene that was enthusiastic about the World Series of Warzone this summer. As cheaters have become more rampant in public lobbies, the use of private games within Warzone has created a new type of competitive scene within the game. Rather than kill-races where players join random lobbies and attempt to acquire as many kills as possible, the most popular format has been the private lobbies where all competitors duke it out in the same game.
The problem with joining random public lobbies is the number of cheaters running wild at any given time. Activision is hoping to nix the cheating issue with the introduction of its new Ricochet anti-cheat, which is rolling out with the new Warzone Pacific map next month.
With ZLaner in the fold, as well as by bringing over Teep, Bobby Poff, and Sebas from Envy, OpTic has an extremely talented competitive team while still keeping content in mind. With pro players FormaL and Karma signed under OpTic, and its current Call of Duty League lineup, OpTic and Envy are ready to take advantage of a competitive Warzone push from Activision.
