Shopify launch Rebellion esports organization with StarCraft II roster

Canadian e-commerce company Shopify have launched Shopify Rebellion, their very own esports organization that plans to compete across multiple games.

The e-commerce giants have chosen to start their journey in competitive gaming with Blizzard’s real-time strategy title StarCraft II.

Shopify Rebellion have launched with three notable competitors under their ranks, namely Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn, “ByuN” Hyun Woo, and Julian “Lambo” Brosig.

Dario Wünsch, a retired StarCraft II player better known as TLO in the gaming world, left esports organization Team Liquid in September 2020 to join the e-commerce outfit.

TLO joined Shopify as their esports program manager, at the time it wasn’t clear as to what the position would entail. Now, as of the announcement on February 19, it’s clear that the company were eyeing up the growing industry in a non-traditional sense.

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Typically, when non-endemic companies decide to engage in esports, they sponsor a team or competition. Shopify have decided that there’s merit in them housing and managing players — perhaps it’s an elaborate marketing effort for their e-commerce offerings.

“We want to take a deep dive into what makes esports so great; the human stories that are told in-game and off-screen,” said TLO regarding Shopify’s esports venture.”The wit. Discipline. Endless pursuit of mastery. What better way than to begin this journey than with three legendary players, playing a game so historically important for esports. After all, it is arguably the game that started it all.”

Paper Crowns, a creative and marketing agency, were behind the branding of Shopify Rebellion. Just in January 2021, according to a tweet, they worked with the likes of infrastructure giants Vindex, Overwatch and Call of Duty developers Activision Blizzard, and iconic organization Dignitas.