Paris (AFP)

In its six years of existence, the French esport Vitality team has experienced a meteoric growth, driven by the crazy expansion of the sector and the strong ambitions of its founders, Fabien Devide and Nicolas Maurer, determined to play in the big leagues. .

Last step in its development: the opening after a year of work of a large space dedicated to the esport, a "flagship" in the heart of Paris, a few months after having put his boxes at the Stade de France to install his training center.

A thousand square meters open to the public with a shop and cybercafé, streaming studios and a movie theater, a first for an esport team in Europe and the biggest investment in the history of Vitality.

"All my life, I told myself that it would be great to have a place like this.It's a bit of a teenager fantasy," told AFP the president of Vitality Fabien Devide, aka "Neo", 26 years. Goal of the place that wants to be "family friendly": create a link with the community of fans and allow the uninitiated to discover the esport.

"When we started, we did not imagine such an ascent", adds his partner Nicolas Maurer, 32 years old.

- flourishing industry -

Vitality's evolution has indeed kept pace with the exponential growth of the esport sector, which in just a few years has gone from a mere hobby of geeks, to a flourishing industry. From now on, the competitions take place in stadiums and concert halls in front of thousands of spectators, the structures are professionalised, the sponsors are panicked and the players are stars.

Nothing to do with the early esport: "At the time, it did not look like much," recalls Kevin Georges, one of the founding members. "It was young people in a cybercafe with a referee a little overwhelmed, people waiting their turn to play, guys who fell asleep on a chair during tournaments," he says.

At this time, "Neo and Nico" work in video editing. "I was working on French TV shows in a box of prod and one day I was told + you have a new assistant + and it was Fabien and that's how it all started. the esport and I immediately hooked, "remembers Nicolas Maurer.

"He also explained to me that the structures did not treat their players well, he wanted to leave and create his own project and I offered him to do a business," he adds.

Confident in their abilities to manage a team, they start in 2013 with already a global vision of the sector. "We said to ourselves: + if we want to build a team, we have to put together a team that corresponds to us, that has our values, that we can associate ourselves with brands we love, that we can tell our own stories to sponsors, we can make our own designs of jerseys + ", details Neo.

- Call of Duty and League of Legends -

The adventure begins on the game Call of Duty, driven by the talent and popularity of the player Gotaga, who has since become a star of video games with its 3.5 million subscribers on Youtube. And it takes a new dimension two years later with the entry in 2015 on the scene League of Legends, the most popular game esport.

"It was a turning point for the brand because it was the first time we had positioned ourselves on a European team, it was a challenge to go and look for international sponsors and to establish ourselves as an international brand", explains Nicolas Maurer.

Become a reference and a locomotive for the French esport, the club wants to conquer also the place of European leader. The 34 million euros raised in 2019 from Indian billionaire Tej Kohli should help in this direction.

"Today, we are perhaps the third team in Europe (behind G2 and Fnatic, editor's note) and for us it is important to go for the place of N.1 We are not here to stay we're here to get the leadership, "Neo says.

© 2019 AFP