After listing its League Championship Series (LCS) spot for sale on Nov. 8, Gravity Gaming has sold this past week for roughly $1 million, sources close to the team’s management tell the Daily Dot.
The winning bidder for the spot is currently unknown, but one source says that he has not been affiliated with esports before this endeavor.
Gravity is now the fourth LCS franchise to sell this year, joining Team Dignitas EU (now Splyce), Team Coast (now NRG Esports), and Team 8 (now Immortals), but they likely won’t be the last as three more teams are still on the market—Elements, Gambit Gaming, and Team Impulse.
But unlike three of the previous sales, Gravity Gaming does not come with a compiled roster. Three of the team’s players have already move on, with Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell joining Team SoloMid, Johnny “Altec” Ru joining NRG, and Michael “Bunny FuFuu” Kurylo joining Cloud9.
The future is undecided for the team’s two remaining players, Koreans Lae-Young “Keane” Jang and Kang “Move” Min-su. Whether they’ll continue to play with Gravity’s new owners next year or not is unclear. There’s speculation Keane will return to Oceania, the region where he made his name.
Gravity Gaming first entered the LCS by purchasing Curse Academy (originally owned by Team Liquid owner Steve “Liquid112” Arhancet) on Jan. 7 this year. Its buyer was Davis Vague, the son of successful Philadelphian investor and businessman Richard Vague.
Vague had very little esports business experience but was outspoken about his League of Legends fandom. Vague hired team manager Jake “Ginko” Fyfe and an experienced coaching staff to lead the team.
And after placing in the top six during the regular season in the Spring, Gravity Gaming rebuilt the squad by adding Move in place of Brandon “SaintVicious” DiMarco and Altec in place of marksman David “Cop” Roberson, who moved into the head coach role.
But the changes weren’t enough and once again Gravity took a top six finish in the Summer playoffs. The team then failed to qualify for the 2015 World Championship, falling to Cloud9 in the 2015 North American Regional Gauntlet.
Now Vague and staff have exited the stage, leaving the new owner to rebuild a franchise essentially from scratch heading into a 2016 season that looks like the most competitive ever in the history of the LCS.
