The Seoul-based Overwatch League team—which is mostly made up of former Lunatic-Hai players—now has a name.
The storied South Korean roster will be called Seoul Dynasty. Wearing the colors black and gold, Seoul Dynasty represents the team’s “grand aspirations” in the Overwatch League. It’s an homage to the Lunatic-Hai players, who won two OGN Overwatch Apex championships, as well as to their future.
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“Seoul is the birthplace of modern-day esports and holds a significant place in history, in addition to being the long-standing capital of the Joseon Dynasty and modern-day Korea,” Seoul Dynasty owner Kevin Chou said in a statement. “We have a tremendous responsibility to present the best of Seoul on a global stage.”
The process of naming the team was not simple. The KSV Esports team—which owns the Seoul slot—started the process way back in July, Chou told Dot Esports. In September, the company decided to run a naming contest, inviting fans to suggest franchise names.
“One of the things we’re really cognizant of is that we’re an international ownership group,” Chou told Dot Esports. “We do have some people in Seoul as minority investors that we haven’t announced yet. But right now, it’s like, ‘Hey, here’s a bunch of Americans coming from Silicon Valley that are representing Seoul.’ We wanted a name that said, ‘Look, we get it.’ We’re not trying to just be this international company that forgets the roots of what its trying to do.”
Seoul Dynasty wants to continue building upon Lunatic-Hai’s importance in South Korean Overwatch. Seoul Dynasty will hold a “send-off” event in Seoul on Nov. 18 as a way to reveal its final roster to the Seoul-based community and to honor its fans—and Lunatic-Hai has many.
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Some of those fans even helped Chou and his team in the branding process as part of a focus group-type environment, Chou said.
“One of my key philosophies is to build this team with the fan base. This isn’t going to be us in a room doing a lot of creative work ourselves without any feedback,” Chou said. “To do this right, we want to build the team with the fan base.”
And Lunatic-Hai’s fan base is especially unique, Chou added. Gender ratios skew more toward a female fan base for the team, which makes the marketing process different than with other Overwatch League teams. Others are looking to appeal to a young, millennial male audience, Chou said, but Seoul Dynasty’s breakdown is much more diverse.
Seoul Dynasty will relocate its players to Los Angeles for the inaugural season of Overwatch League, which begins preseason exhibition matches in December. The regular season kicks off in January.
