Talented Fortnite organization Evade has been acquired by Overtime, a company backed by NBA stars Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony, as well as the late NBA commissioner David Stern.
Evade’s owner, Hantao Yuan, will serve as the head of the newly-founded Overtime Gaming, the home of Overtime’s esports and gaming initiatives.
“Overtime comes to the table with a large community, an existing infrastructure for developing and selling content, and expertise in merchandising,” Hantao Yuan said. “That combo is unique in the gaming world. Together, we can bring gaming content and gaming fans to much larger and much different audiences, on new platforms and in real life.”
The acquisition of Evade includes the team’s five current players on the roster, including Kariyu, Orange, Pocket, Spayde, and Tweaks. The team said it’s also actively seeking additional talent to join. The five Evade players join the existing Overtime players of Aircool, Inspyre, and Thresh.
Overtime plans to create both short and long-form content that covers gaming and gamers “the Overtime way, focusing on storytelling, not stats.”
“Stories about players’ lives, challenges and hopes are told everywhere in traditional sports,” said Overtime’s CEO and co-founder Dan Porter. “There’s a massive opportunity to tell those stories in gaming. I couldn’t be more excited to work with Hantao and our team to find those stories and help tell them in a way that speaks to our community and the next generation.”
