After having been world top 4 on the football game PES, Nicolas Choite was twice world vice-champion, and vice-champion of France as a coach. The entrepreneur launched in 2021 the club of BKROG Esports, who earned a spot in Div.2 LFL on GamersOrigin’s slot. The League of Legends team has notably partnered with a brand that reminds the oldest fans of the esports scene a lot. Our interview.
Eclypsia: After being a pro on the football esports scene, why did you try the experience of creating a structure?
Nicolas Choite: At the time, the esports scene was not what it is today. I’ve always wanted to give players a chance. It is from this idea that the amateur club Bunker Esports was born. This club then chained several successes by being for example champion of France on the mobile game Brawl Stars of Supercell.
Finally, our evolution in 2019 with a positioning on a new model of esport club allowed us to convince Asus ROG France.
CE: How was the creation process, and the allocation of the slot in Div 2?
CN: We tried to access Division 2 through the Open Tour in 2021, to qualify with a first esports team on League of Legends. For div 2, we had already recruited a heavyweight manager from the LoL scene, 21XXX, and a full staff with his help, then tested many players to find a balance with a first team for the first split.
We submitted a complete application file to Riot for LFL Div 2, then finally concretized a common team through a jersey partnership with GamersOrigin.
CE: How was the link made with ASUS, which we know ROG has marked the history of the French scene (with ROG Esport)?
CN: Our first steps with Asus ROG France began with a simple hardware partnership… Following this first success, an ambition was born around common values and strategy, a first in the history of esports, not just sponsorship .
An amateur club turned professional with a strategic marriage with the best gaming builder in the world. Marriage symbolized by the unprecedented merger of our two logos around a new entity: BK ROG Esports.
CE: What is the ambition of the LoL team after this first split ended in 8th place? And the ambition of the structure in general? Karmine Corp’s journey (from D2 to double European champion in three years) is a model?
CN: Of course the Karmine is a fine example of French success. Our ambitions have always been to structure a LoL team to access the Playoffs, and to consolidate our position in League of Legends and then to position ourselves in the LFL.
CE: In addition to LoL, what results for the other teams?
CN: After some good results over the past few years, we are considering returning to the VALORANT stage. On Smash Bros, we announced an exceptional recruitment: Mr R, a size of the game in Europe. And on Fortnite, we still have Pickiss who we now support with the recruitment of Dukey.
CE: Finally, besides the competitive aspect, BKROG seems to want to join forces with larger partnerships in music (No Limit, Orelsan), what is the objective with these big names?
CN: Beyond the competitive part of BK ROG Esports, it is a question of broadening our horizons towards new audiences to offer new types of diversified content thanks to our partners Mansa Music and WGF. Realizing projects with many artists like Orelsan is a real opportunity. Moreover, at the moment we are taking care of all the gaming part of the Orelsan Tour. Speaking of which, recently we had a staff tournament and Eddie Purple was the big winner.
We also set up an operation with the JL streamers team on Flashback’s GTA RP server, with Gazo in concert on Liberty Island after a first Role Play game whose success exceeded our expectations. Obviously this allows us to diversify our communication on BK ROG Esports.