Gamer Republic, a startup headquartered in California, has posted a campaign on the crowdfunding website Kickstarter with the intent to buy into the LCK in 2021. The Kickstarter campaign has an official goal of $10 million, but the organization says it wants to raise $20 million—$10 million for the LCK application fee and another $10 million to operate the team for “at least two years.”
Despite having seemingly no sponsorships or investors willing to help offset the cost of the hefty application fee, the company appears to be serious about its intent to apply to join one of the most competitive League of Legends leagues in the world.
One of the start-ups that applied for an LCK franchise spot is trying to finance the $10,000,000 application fee via Kickstarter. I'm fucking serious. https://t.co/ujOg2CmX6t
— Kwanghee Woo (@SaintSnorlax) June 30, 2020
What’s even more surprising, however, is that Gamer Republic plans to give its public Kickstarter backers complete control over how the team is run—if the company raises enough money and if Riot accepts its application.
Each supporter who pledges $570 or more will have a multi-year membership with the team that grants them an increasing amount of say in the decisions that are traditionally made by the coaches of a team depending on how much they pledge above that minimum amount.
Specifically, Gamer Republic’s Kickstarter says that all player selections, manager or coach selections, player appearances and replacements, and the pick and ban draft phase will be decided in a vote by the backers.
As a further incentive, Gamer Republic says “prize money” will be distributed to membership holders if the team wins the LCK or Worlds. The backer with the “best judgment” throughout the year will also have their name engraved on any trophies that the team might win.
Gamer Republic says it’s a startup that “consists of game designers and engineers who have worked for Korea’s leading game companies for years, including Nexon and NC Soft, and executives who have worked for domestic and foreign startups for years.”
The organization has 36 days to reach its goal or all pledges to the project will be refunded. At time of writing, the Kickstarter sits at just under $22,000 raised.
Gamer Republic is one of the 21 organizations that reportedly submitted an application for a permanent position in the league after Riot Korea announced the LCK’s transition to a franchised system earlier this year.
The most surprising part of this campaign is that Gamer Republic plans to give its public Kickstarter backers complete control over how the team is run—if the company raises enough money and if Riot accepts its application.
