Karmine Corp brings together 28,000 of its supporters on Saturday at Paris La Défense Arena for a “family reunion” between supporters, players and managers, further proof of the immense popular success of this esports club born barely three years ago. years. Driven by the infectious passion of Kameto and Prime, its two founders, stars of Twitch and Youtube, the club landed like a cannonball in the world of esports, winning numerous competitions from its beginnings. But above all he stood out by creating an unprecedented fervor around him.
“What characterizes us is popular success, both in terms of number and intensity,” Arthur Perticoz, who joined the Karmine adventure a year ago as general manager, explains to AFP. . “It’s something that you don’t find anywhere else in esports,” confirms Raphaël Crabbé, alias Targamas, professional player on the team that plays the game League of Legends. Because at each tournament organized in person, the supporters of the “KCorp” make the walls shake, with banners, flags, drums, slogans and songs of support, a phenomenon which takes up the codes of supporterism of traditional sport but still new to the world. scale of video game competitions.
“Saturday is going to be exceptional. Nobody is ready. My goal is for people to get value for their money. (…) It will be a family reunion, a celebration that reminds us why we are all fans of this club,” describes Arthur Perticoz, promising a scenography worthy of a “concert by an American superstar.” Combining spectacle and exhibition matches against invited teams, the event, called KCX for “Karmine Corp Experience”, should break all attendance records for an esports club.
Killian Schneider, 23, will be there. Member of the “Blue Wall”, the club’s ultra supporters association, he lists the numerous trips made to follow his favorite team: from Barcelona to Rotterdam or Düsserldorf and to Sao Paulo… “I do as much as possible possible trips to live the experience of supporting,” he says. Last week, this web developer who lives in Troyes took a day off and traveled seven hours to go to Montpellier to support his team in the final of the EMEA Masters, a European League of Legends competition won by the KCorp. “I already really liked esports before but I didn’t have an affinity for a particular structure, and when Kamel created KCorp, I joined straight away,” he says.
For Florian Edet, a 31-year-old fan, this enthusiasm can be explained by the profile and background of the team’s founders, Kamel “Kameto” Kebir, who started from nothing and became king of Twitch, and Amine “Prime” Mekri, part gamer, rapper and jack-of-all-trades entrepreneur. “It’s the people’s club, let’s say. They started by streaming in their underwear in their bedroom and today, they own a structure. It’s beautiful to see,” says this teacher, “proud” to be part of the “KCorp” collective. “I come from a generation where video games were poorly regarded. We were seen as people with oily skin and oily hair who never saw the light of day, even though that creates a community,” he continues.
It is therefore this community which will be celebrated on Saturday evening in the largest performance hall in Europe, more accustomed to receiving fans of the Racing 92 rugby club, the Rolling Stones or Orelsan. “The goal is that at the end of the evening, Karmine signs a new long-term contract with the fans, like: Ok, we’re reaching 3 years, but love doesn’t just last 3 years between us, we will continue for a long time,” says Arthur Perticoz.