Envy Gaming announced Tuesday that it has merged with Native Gaming.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The announcement of the merger between the two organizations was announced on social media.
“We are excited to announce the merger of Envy and Native Gaming,” the company wrote in a social media post Tuesday. “This partnership marks the beginning of a new era in Envy’s history, Dean [Duro] and Mike [Rufail] will unite to the boundaries of what’s possible. Together we will elevate esports by blending Envy’s championship legacy with Native Gaming’s commitment to growth and the indigenous community.
“By joining forces, we plan on opening new doors for players, fans, and the gaming community worldwide.”
In a separate post, Native Gaming CEO Dean Duro said the following:
“Wow… to say that I’m now a Co-Owner of Envy is incredible in itself, but to also say that Envy is now partly Indigenous-owned.. is even more amazing,” said Native Gaming CEO Dean Duro (DerangedNative). “A huge thank you to @hastr0 [Mike Rufail] for the opportunity and trust to be a part of this journey. I’ll be involved in all aspects of operations, and my goal is to help rebuild Envy and take it beyond its former glory. It’s no small task, but I’m confident that together we can make this happen. Working with Native Gaming over the past three years has been an amazing experience, and I’m excited to say that we’re not going anywhere. We’ll continue our operations and have some exciting plans in the works—stay tuned for updates in the coming days. To all the fans we’ve gained along the way, I hope you’ll continue supporting us, now across both organizations. Hakup a’ai (Thank you).”
The company did not disclose the structure of the new organization, but one would assume that current employees and players will remain with the newly combined entity.
In January, Rufail announced that he had reacquired Envy Gaming and its team brands Dallas Fuel and Dallas Empire from OpTic Gaming and also revealed that he had completely severed financial (and other) ties to the Texas-based esports organization..
Rufail began his career as a professional Call of Duty player on Major League Gaming’s Pro Circuit 2007, and four years later served as an esports advisor to Activision Blizzard on the popular Call of Duty series, as well as a consultant for Epic Games and NVIDIA. In 2009, he founded Envy Gaming and served as its CEO until 2020. In November 2021, Envy merged with OpTic Gaming, and Rufail remained a co-owner and served in the role of chief gaming officer until his exit in August 2024. In September 2024, he joined the crypto trading game platform TradeOff Financial Corp. as its CEO.
Envy also announced that it is now competing in Valorant Challengers NA earlier this week.