Seth “Scump” Abner has always been one of the biggest and most forward-thinking esports athletes. Now he is taking it a step further with his Partnership announcement with Oakley. He will be joining some of the biggest professional traditional sports athletes in the world such as Patrick Mahomes and Chloe Kim as a new ambassador for the brand.
Scump had hinted at this partnership not too long ago. Now the cat is out of the bag.
He was kind enough to sit down with The Game Haus and discuss what this new partnership means to him and his growing success.
Robert
I want to start by congratulating you on your Oakley sponsorship. Tell me a little bit about the collaboration. I’m pretty sure that when I was watching OpTic’s latest video about your legacy that tou were wearing those new glasses right?
Scump
Oh, yeah, it’s been the best-kept secret ever. I’ve been wearing these for probably a month, month and a half now, maybe two months? I’m not exactly sure. But I did hint at the partnership on Twitter with the signature meme. Nobody knew what I was talking about. People are like, did you retire? Did you sign another two-year extension? What are you doing?
Little did they know that it was right in front of them the whole time. So I’m surprised that it was kept secret for this long and nobody guessed it. I’ve been wearing glasses pretty much the past year or so. So I guess it just wasn’t really alarming to anyone that I changed lenses or changed frames?
Robert
Yeah, no. I mean, honestly, I’ve been watching you a lot the last year with franchising coming to Call of Duty, and I hadn’t noticed. Then when I got the email for this, I looked and I was like, Oh my God, he’s been wearing these for a while now. That’s awesome. So how did this collaboration come together?
Scump
Honestly, it just came from Bill reaching out to them. I was obviously looking for a glasses partner because I mean, I’ve been wearing glasses. I have animals and I’m actually allergic to them. So wearing contacts is a real pain for me. And whenever he said that Oakley was interested, I was like, okay, where do I sign?
I was so excited. I watch a lot of sports, specifically the MLB and NFL being two of the big ones involved. And then for them to reach out, and for this partnership to be happening, I couldn’t be more excited to be partnering with such a prestigious and just all-around cool brand. I’m really excited to be an ambassador for them.
Robert
Absolutely. And it’s funny that you talk about traditional sports. You’ve had branding opportunities before and many of them have tied you mostly to gaming. How does it feel to be the first pro esports athlete to work with Oakley and now be alongside the names of Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Michaela Shiffrin and Chloe Kim?
Scump
I mean, it’s very, very exciting. I’m just honored to be able to rep this brand. For this partnership to be underway, I think that people are going to be really, really excited. Because it’s not every day that you see such a huge lifestyle brand step into the gaming space. So, like I said, just very honored to be the first esport athlete that they picked. Who would have thought it would be me?
Robert
Absolutely. You know, it doesn’t surprise me, you are an icon in the space, and somebody who is continuing to grow their brand. Speaking of the pro sports and esports athletes, more and more players, such as yourself are getting these kinds of deals, right? You’re seeing State Farm, Coke, Gillette, all these major brands are getting into esports. Take me back to when you were first getting started, would 18-year-old you have ever thought that you’d be getting a branding deal like this?
Scump
Oh, absolutely not. Back in the day, obviously NadeShot partnered with Red Bull. And that was huge as well. But I mean, for me, no way. Gaming in itself has started to become more and more mainstream. And, like you said, back when I was 18, I would have had no idea that I would be at this place in my life and my career.
It’s unbelievable where gaming is gone and to have Oakley come in, that just pushes the needle a little bit more forward.
For esports becoming more mainstream, the more we see these huge brands come in it just attracts a lot of attention towards it. It is legitimizing it and that’s a big thing. I again am just very excited. I never would have thought this opportunity would have ever come, you know?
Robert
I’m sure if you were to go back in time and be like “by the way, keep doing this, you’re gonna get awesome brand deals as you go forward.” You would probably shock yourself.
Scump
Yeah, this has always just been a passion of mine. Growing up, I always played video games. So for it to be at this point. Now. I get to do what I love. And to get a partnership like this is really surreal.
Robert
Talking about what you love, let’s move over to OpTic gaming. The branding is back and this time, it feels like it’s here to stay. Can you speak a little on what it means to be back under the OpTic banner, as opposed to the Huntsmen?
Scump
For me, personally, nothing really changed with the Huntsman in terms of being under a different brand. The family was still the same and our amazing supporters still followed us. So I mean, it really didn’t change as much as just the logo changed. Not playing under OpTic was different in terms of just the name but things still felt relatively similar, because the infrastructure was still all the same. We still had everybody with us.
It wasn’t ideal, by any means. But we powered through it, Hector got it back. It’s very exciting to be playing under it again mostly to be able to continue holding that OpTic gaming name at a very high standard. We’re just gonna keep trying to get wins and continue to push the content like we always have. It’s just business as usual, really. But it’s good to have it back.
Robert
Well, that’s awesome to hear. What do you have to say to OpTic and Chicago fans as you prep to really dive into Season Two?
Scump
I just want to thank them for their support. They’ve always been there for us. It’s definitely a little bit hard when we lose, sometimes we get a lot of flack. But that’s just because people are passionate about what we’re doing. It’s really a blessing to have people care that much. I mean, obviously, it is rough sometimes when we lose to hear the negative comments. But for the most part, they’re always really supportive. Even on our live streams, they always come out. They show love through the comments and just are always showing it to us. They’re definitely awesome and we really appreciate all the support that they show us.
Robert
I appreciate you for taking the time to come out and talk to me, not only about the team but about your awesome Oakley branding opportunity. I look forward to the rest of the season and seeing you wearing those awesome glasses.
Scump
Absolutely. Thank you.
Thanks again to Scump for taking the time. His new partnership with Oakley is now live and fans can see that they are diving into esports with this deal. Fans can also check out the new Oakley and Turtle Beach collaborative gaming glasses which Scump has been wearing.
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