Let’s be honest with ourselves for a second: the era of sports organizations begging corporate giants for a lifeline is getting a little tiring.
For many years, the industry’s playbook was simple: throw money at non-traditional companies, slap a Mastercard, Coinbase, or Mercedes-Benz logo on a jersey, and pray that the average crypto customer will suddenly decide to buy a $90 team hoodie or watch a game at an upcoming tournament. Or, conversely, events like Evo promote Chipotle all over (even providing a shuttle bus to the local Chipotle) as it didn’t take long to create meaningful ways to make money without asking for regular patrons. Who can forget the pile of Chipotle at 2XKO?
This sounds concentrated, desperate, and – esports fans’ worst fear – untrue.
We’ve watched lobbyists try to convince middle managers at insurance companies that teenagers who watch VALORANT broadcasts are eager to buy auto policies or enlist in the US Army.
Meanwhile, as major sponsors shift their budgets away from individual team deals and toward larger, centralized tournaments, esports organizations are facing a quiet reality check: you can’t build a sustainable business model by pleasing people who don’t care about gaming.
Instead of chasing another tepid business partnership, the French powerhouse recently did something big: they created a full-fledged trading card game called Blue Rising. And in doing so, KC just gave the entire industry a way to monetize fans without selling your soul.
Basic food, not ordinary
If you’ve been around esports for any length of time, your first thought might be, “Wait, haven’t any teams tried cards before?”
You will be fine! Over the years, Team Liquid has given fans collectible trading cards at LCS events. It was pure, fun fan service – a great souvenir to pop into your bag after taking a photo with your favorite mid-laner. I personally liked it, especially their mascot, Blue, handing out cards.
But Blue Rising is not a new charity or a cheap advertising gimmick. An original and functional collectible tactical card game built from the ground up.
- Character Cards: Enter real KC players and icons as arena fighters with custom tactical stats
- Event Cards: Gameplay twists based on iconic, real-life moments from Karmine Corp. history
- Item Cards: Tactical gear and reinforcements to tune synergies and tilt battles in your favor
Part of the trick is that it’s not just a full-fledged card game. It takes players, moments, and gaming gear directly from esports culture and makes it engaging and realistic. It allows fans to really connect with the card game and feel a deeper knowledge of football. Made for KC fans and other esports fans who can relate to the cards.
Imagine pulling a card that allows you to hold a losing round because it is flavored after a famous French crowd song or a historic comeback in an EMEA tournament. This is using imagination, intent, and true passion to create authentic content and merchandise for real fans rather than hoping to cash in on a lazy anime-themed sweater or writing a social media post about a credit card company.
A revenue model that can ultimately grow esports fandoms
The main problem with the traditional esports playbook was its bottom-up design. Teams tried to monetize traditional broadcast sports before they had the stadium infrastructure or TV deals to support them.
Blue Rising turns the script on what games do best: visual, community-driven content.
Fans don’t want to buy an energy drink just because an announcer caught it on camera for three seconds. Well, if they are over 13 years old. They don’t want to watch a boring YouTube video about a car they’ll never buy. They don’t want fast food logos slapped all over the radio.
Followers do I want to collect rare display boxes, trade booster packs with friends in the live watch party, and unlock custom art sleeves featuring their favorite players.
By creating portable products that tap directly into the culture of tabletop gaming, Karmine Corp isn’t asking for a desperate, thoughtless handout. They offer real entertainment value. They treat their fans like real gamers who love to collect, compete, and own body parts of culture. They show themselves understand sports and sports.
Fresh air
While other organizations spend millions trying to translate general brand awareness into sales, KC has built an internal economy. They realized that 50,000 passionate, deeply committed fans who feel recognized by their team will always be more important than 500,000 passive spectators who can’t name a single player on the roster. (One reason I can’t believe that co-op viewing is important, since most of those fans are only there for influence and won’t be around forever.)
Blue Rising proves that the way forward for esports doesn’t pretend to be a traditional streaming game. It doubles down on the chaotic, passionate, superstitious culture that makes competitive sports so special in the first place. There’s been evidence for a while now that esports fans want raw, original, and fun.
It’s touching, witty, and a relief. Esports needs to stop pretending to be something it’s not if it wants to survive. Instead of daydreaming about huge growth that will never surpass whatever gimmick they wanted to use at the time, esports tournaments and organizations should focus on dedicated fans and gamers who will buy the products and stick around to watch the entire game. It may not bring huge wealth, but it will allow esports to survive.
