Las Vegas-based esports organization Rogue, co-owned by electronic dance music DJ Steve Aoki, has signed a North American H1Z1 team to expand its esports portfolio into the survival sandbox multiplayer game, the team announced Monday.
Rogue is the second major organization to expand into H1Z1, following Rick Fox-owned Echo Fox last April. Rogue co-owner Frank Villarreal believes that more organizations will enter the space because of the game's success on Twitch in terms of stream viewership.
"After months of research, we decided to acquire some of the best North American H1Z1 players for its growing esports scene," Villarreal told ESPN. "Rogue wants to help the H1Z1 scene grow this year into an interesting and very unique esport."
Rogue has agreements with four players: Reed "Inboxes" Tucker, Taylor "THump" Humphries, Isiaih "StayLifted" Slowik and Dennis "Cloak" LePore. The team is currently holding tryouts to fill the final spot.
"Rogue has proven as a newer organization that they are committed to competing at the top levels in all games they take interest in," Inboxes told ESPN in a statement. "I'm excited to play with some of the best players North America has to offer, and with an org like Rogue behind us, we should be a strong presence in the growing H1 competitive scene."
Rogue first launched in 2016 with the signing of an Overwatch team. It expanded into Counter-Strike in August, with both of its teams hailing from Europe, despite the organization's being in Vegas. The team received an investment from Aoki in October, marking one of the first entries into esports from the music industry.
