The American multinational financial services corporation becomes the first to ever link its debit card exclusively to an online video game.
This upcoming Wednesday, American Express will launch its partnership program with Riot Games, marking a huge step for the game company. The main attraction is a line of prepaid debit cards, with various LoL characters illustrated. Those who sign up for it immediately gain Riot Points with more granted to them when they load up a certain amount. They also gain RP with purchases and when linked to a direct deposit account.
The partnership will help Riot Games with expanding to a wider, more professional audience, Dustin Beck, VP of eSports explained. He also added that this is a "great oppotunity for the brands," as he noted that the LoL's main audience of 18-24 year old males become "harder to reach on TV and other mediums."
With major companies such as AmEx making a move towards eSports, it will be interesting how the company's competitors react.
Source: NY Times
