League of Legends’ competitive space is constantly changing. Between player counts, LCS viewership numbers, pro retirements, entire teams leaving, and rising prize pools, a number of factors need to be looked at to analyze the health of the game. As the times change, one professional organization, FlyQuest, declares “League is Dead,” but it’s not the scathing critique you might think it is. To dig a little more into this idea, we sat down with Paul Cho, FlyQuest’s VP of Partnerships to learn a little more about the org.
GamingTrend:
What's your name and who do you work for?
Paul Cho, VP of Partnerships for FlyQuest:
So my name is Paul Cho. Currently, I'm working for FlyQuest, an Esports organization, as VP of partnerships. And yes, I'll keep it to that, because FlyQuest is a big umbrella, including sports and entertainment.
GamingTrend:
Could you go a little bit more into what FlyQuest is and what they do?
Paul:
Just to focus purely on FlyQuest, FlyQuest is a global Esports and professional gaming organization competing at League of Legends, fighting game space for Evo, and World Championship, which goes to League of Legends. But beyond just competitive results, we focus on being the one and only sustainable org, focusing on the morale and the values and our core identity of making the game better than we found it.
Paul later added:
FlyQuest is a high-performance Esports organization that has evolved into a cultural platform, connecting competitive gaming with entertainment, lifestyle, and global fandom.
GamingTrend:
Okay, awesome. What are your responsibilities as VP of Partnerships?
Paul:
As VP of Partnerships, it's basically head of partnerships, just to go over some stuff. It would be, like, you know, overseeing deal sourcing, negotiation, creating leads and pipeline. But this year, for sure, I took more time into bringing value and culturally relevant projects. I would say, I sort of specialize in it, just because my past and previous works.
GamingTrend:
Could you go into your past and previous works a little bit more?
Paul:
Sure.
GamingTrend:
I heard you started out in medicine and kind of transitioned into gaming.
Paul:
So I was in neurosurgery, you know, fully licensed. But I decided to take a turn to chase, like, what my character is sort of defined as and loves to do. And I went back to Korea, just started off with K-pop and music, which kind of led me into, thanks to COVID, gaming. You know, in Korea, gaming is so big that Faker and T1 and all these orgs are viewed as professional traditional sports. And during COVID, I was just like, hey, this is something that I'm super interested in, and would love to get ahead of myself. I'm like, okay, I'm gonna apply to Riot and T1, and I ended up getting into T1 and I sort of applied my previous connections and knowledge on the K-pop side, knowing the cultural value in Korea, that's what's trending. So with the Samsung and Nike partnerships we had at T1, instead of pitching them the usual, logo slaps or traditional sponsorship, you know, like deliverables, like screen time—pragmatic values—I was like, why don't we just make a music video with K-pop stars; sort of identify T1 players, just how the K-pop industry would identify and brand the players themselves. Which lends to the same idea of where FlyQuest is at, and how FlyQuest position themselves, and where Von Dutch was, you know, starting off as trying to rebrand and bring back the hype. I mean, obviously Charlie XCX did a huge part on it.
GamingTrend:
Speaking of Von Dutch, could you go into a little bit of detail regarding the League is Dead colab?
Paul:
Yeah. Big shout out to our creative team also, but as you know, League of Legends in North America, some say it's dying with big orgs like TSM, 100 Thieves, sort of like opting out. But if you look at it, you know, look into the global perspective and the international stages, and growing a fandom, it's actually growing. And I feel like we just wanted to make sure there are still viewers and watchers out there. They're passionate. We just got to give them the right content and right activation that's authentic to the community. Ultimately, I think Von Dutch made perfect sense from the get go, and our team created a stunt of acting as if we're opting out of the gaming space. A lot of North American teams viewed us as the hope of NA or we're the only team that could possibly go farther into Worlds, and that created the whole noise.
GamingTrend:
Okay, so League is Dead is kind of an ironic sentiment, like it's growing everywhere. It's just going through some issues.
Paul:
Right.
GamingTrend:
But ultimately, it's still League.
Paul:
Yes, basically saying, yeah it's counterintuitive. I don't know how I should explain but League is definitely not dead. I mean, viewerships are just rising. Obviously, we gave the right content out and it felt like 2019 with all the impressions and clout that it got, so League isn't dead.
GamingTrend:
Yeah, I've seen the player count statistics, and it's like 15 million, 20 million, insane numbers. Switching gears a bit, there seems to be a substantial emphasis placed on environmental action and sustainability with your mascots Terra and Aphid. Does FlyQuest take a direct approach to environmental causes through charity work? Or does it take an approach that's more integrated into the day-to-day function of the organization?
Paul:
Let's get Terra and Aphid out of the picture, but it basically represents us as a fusion of both nature and technology. And I feel like we made a good design with it, which is core to the FlyQuest brand; and to go to charity initiatives and like sustainability, since our original big plan with sustainability and partnership was MasterCard deliverable, which was TreeQuest, planting trees how the game score goes. We developed it, as we mentioned, from our core responsibility of making a game better than it was found. It was like every impressive moment that we could offer to fans, which is like worlds, semi finals, or whatever it is—I would say quarter final, not semi—but we were like, since those moments are key to our fan base, let's first, if it's in Paris, let's go to Joblife organization. They're pretty clouted and also influential in this space. We collaborated on different charities for Paris and Europe in general. Then this year, I think the T1 partnership made perfect sense because they're known to do positive work through their game and within their fan base. On a big scale of charity, we do plan to collaborate with big partners that make sense for the charity work and sustainability cause. On a day-to-day operational basis, our office always uses recyclable products, and we stick to the values within the office on a day-to-day basis.
GamingTrend:
Okay, awesome! So it definitely sounds like a mix of both.
Paul:
Yes.
GamingTrend:
So I saw one quote from your website that is: "At FlyQuest our mission goes beyond competitive success. We are committed to making the gaming landscape better than we found it. This means fostering a more inclusive, sustainable and engaging ecosystem for players, fans and communities alike. Whether it's promoting sustainability, supporting local communities, or championing diversity in gaming, we are dedicated to leaving a lasting impact." You've touched on the ecosystem part so far, and the sustainability part. Could you touch on how FlyQuest reaches out to the community and/or gets involved with their community?
Paul:
To elaborate on supporting the communities, it goes in different directions. To the fans, I think we made one of the most successful events in FlyQuest history, plus NA, by hosting the funeral Von Dutch event where, you know, basically everyone was, like, very wild, free, expressive with how they dress. I mean, the dress code was black, but I think that was a pretty interesting mix of local LA DJs that are pretty—who knows, knows—kind of vibe, and making sure, like, all the athletes and artists around LA were present in this space, along with different brand industrial key leaders. That's for the fan experience side. On the Creator side, like, we don't really go after the most well-known, famous influencers, as you know. We love to pick up very talented artists or creators who we see, who fit our values with their morals and their hard work, and we want to grow with them and make sure we help them and give them the resources to help them grow.
Did you ask about inclusivity?
GamingTrend:
Yeah, inclusivity as well.
Paul:
I mean, just right off the bat, we have the one and only RED program, which is an all-women's team for Valorant. They're not looking at the best form right now, as of like how the tournaments are managed, but we're consistently endorsing them, sponsoring all these, like, creators, creating different platforms to play on. Aside from just the competitive part, on staff, partners, we ensure the representation of diversity is there, and we take any sort of comments that are against these very seriously. And, yeah, I'll just keep it to there.
Paul later added:
FlyQuest is committed to inclusivity and diversity across Esports. We continue to invest in and support women’s teams in Counter-Strike and VALORANT, with a focus on providing equal opportunity, resources, and long-term pathways for growth within the competitive ecosystem.
GamingTrend:
Okay! How would you describe FlyQuest's culture overall?
Paul:
You mean within the operational part, or just like...?
GamingTrend:
Yeah, for the operational part.
Paul:
I would say, you know, literally, I think every member of FlyQuest—we joined as the ownership changed over to the Viola family, owner of the Florida Panthers, and the members, we stuck to what we say, we're making FlyQuest better than we found it, and we're also very open to new ideas, you know, crazy ideas. We love to take risks, but make sure to perform. Even to brands, like, it's a—I wouldn't say gamble—but, to entrust us with their branding and entrusting us to represent them within the gaming community. They have to take that risk, and we love taking risks, at the same time as trying to bring true value and being authentic. We want to position ourselves as the most innovative, creative, and authentic organization in NA Esports.
GamingTrend:
What would you say is the biggest risk FlyQuest has taken so far and has it paid off?
Paul:
I mean, the biggest risk would be the Von Dutch partnership, where, you know, internally and even externally, people, other orgs would say, “How would that work?” Not many people maybe know Von Dutch and you know, just overall, I would say that was the biggest risk. Shout out to Charles, who was the CEO of Wealth Garden who brought this deal in. We just felt like the two sides of the community would just vibe instantly. We just trusted in that vision and executed, and it became one of the successful merchandise launches, that got sold out within 90 hours or so—no, within 24 hours or so—and we had to restock it like, three, four times, and it's still going on.
GamingTrend:
Could you give me a glimpse into what's next for FlyQuest, like any upcoming projects or upcoming plans?
Paul:
I mean, I can't say, like, the potential brand collaboration, but I would say our goal is to be as relevant as we can be, while being authentic to the gaming space. We do want to position ourselves in between overlapping cultures, attending ComplexCon, hopefully by then we will have the invites to the LA one that's coming up on October 14th. I'm sure after Von Dutch, just looking at the campaign, we want to build off of that momentum, especially with fashion or merchandise. And, if you look at gaming right now, as just a culture, right? Like, it's not really a niche fan base, if you just look into gaming as a whole, and there's so many more influencers and talents out there who we could make great content and just projects with, and we will probably focus on those cultural relevancy and social currency.
GamingTrend:
Okay, awesome. Those were all of my questions. Do you have any ending notes or ending sentiments?
Paul:
Ending notes would be just, you know, I think all Esports orgs in NA should watch out, because we're probably going to be the most relevant org ever.
GamingTrend:
Awesome! I love the confidence!
Huge thanks to Paul for answering our pressing FlyQuest questions and another shout out goes to Sierra for helping out!
