Astralis Group have consolidated their teams and will rebrand both the Origen League of Legends European Championship and Future FC FIFA teams to Astralis, the organization announced Tuesday.
The league team will share the name and brand with the legendary Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team which has won four Major championships over the past three and a half years. The team is also notably one of the few esports team organizations to be publicly traded, as it is currently listed on the Nasdaq Nordic exchange.
"Over the past couple of years all our brands have grown in terms of fans and viewers, but especially the Astralis brand stands out as very strong and recognizable beyond the core esports scene," Astralis Group CEO Anders Horsholt said in a press release. "By merging all activities not only do we become one of the most significant esports brands in a fast growing global industry, we will also be able to create a new space for fans of all kinds with much more on the shelves when it comes to merchandise, media activities and new fan related products."
When the Astralis Group hired former LEC broadcaster and retired pro player Martin "Deficio" Lynge in 2018 to help lead its franchise application process, it also acquired Origen and partnered with that team's founder Enrique "xPeke" Cedeño Martinez. Rather than use the Astralis brand then, the Danish organization opted to attempt to tap into the Origen legacy that xPeke built after leaving Fnatic, his longtime team.
However, throughout 2020, Origen's reception was not nearly as warm as when xPeke founded the brand and the team qualified for the 2015 League of Legends World Championship. Origen placed 10th in the 2020 LEC summer split.
With the move Astralis Group said that xPeke will be taking a step back and remain on as a shareholder in the organization. While operationally not as involved in the team since it was acquired by the Astralis Group in 2018, xPeke served as a public ambassador for the brand over the past two years since it relaunched and entered the LEC.