ExpressVPN has announced deals with Riot Games, G2 Esports, and Method, expanding its presence in esports.
The company had already sponsored the League of Legends EMEA Championship, but its deal with Riot extends this to the VALORANT Champions Tour Americas and Valorant Champions Tour EMEA. Team Vitality also signed a deal with ExpressVPN last year.
In a press release, the company stated: “These are the spaces where players compete at the highest level and where fans, creators, and communities come together around the games they follow. Being present here means supporting the environments where modern gaming culture lives.”
To mark the partnerships, ExpressVPN is offering gamers up to 83% off subscriptions, alongside giveaways, including signed G2 jerseys, rare LoL skins, and Valorant cosmetics.
Natural Fit
Sabrina Ratih, COO at G2 Esports, said, “ExpressVPN is a natural fit for us. Our players compete on milliseconds, and our fans live online, so this partnership is about empowering both with a safer, faster, and more secure digital experience.”
The team also signed a deal with betting platform Winamax last month. The gambling company largely operates in France and Spain, but is geoblocked in other regions, such as the US and UK.
Players using VPNs, however, can bypass such restrictions, allowing them to gamble on a range of platforms not locally licensed.
Other teams have taken advantage of Riot Games by allowing betting sponsors to sign deals with offshore gambling companies.
MIBR became the first Valorant team to sign a deal with a betting operator, announcing a partnership with 1xBet in November.
Rather than giving users access to .gambling platforms in other countries, ExpressVPN emphasized that it “is designed for low-latency performance and reliable cross-region play.”
Deal To Showcase World of Warcraft
Method’s Head of Partnerships, Liam Whitehead, said the deal will “showcase World of Warcraft at the forefront of competitive gaming.”
In a post on LinkedIn, he added, “This partnership will showcase exactly how Methods & MMORPGs communities are utilising streamers, players, broadcasts and web assets to highlight all the tools available to keep yourself safe online.”
Method will host its own 24/7 broadcast beginning March 24 as it tries to be the first guild in the world to defeat the latest endgame content in WoW’s latest expansion, Midnight.
ExpressVPN has also launched new channels on social media under the name @ExpressVPN_Gaming. The company said the channel is “built for gaming communities, featuring exclusive content and merch giveaways.”