Team:Panda
| Panda | |
|---|---|
| |
| Location | United States 
|
| Owners | Alan Bunney (SamuraiPanda) David Wu (Mashumaro) |
| Sponsors/Partners | HyperX GEICO Vertagear Twitch Zippo Meta Threads Toshiba Funimation |
| Other games | Dragon Ball FighterZ Guilty Gear Xrd Hearthstone: Heroes of WarCraft Heroes of the Storm Marvel Vs. Capcom Mortal Kombat Splatoon Street Fighter TEKKEN |
Panda, formerly Panda Global (PG), is a professional eSports organization based in the United States. It was co-founded by Alan Bunney (SamuraiPanda) and David Wu (Mashumaro) in June 2015 as a player centric organization looking to help their players' careers, facilitate their goals, and promote the growth of the eSports scenes they participate in.
Panda entered the world of Smash on June 24th, 2015 with the sponsorship of Florida Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Smash 4 top players ESAM and MVD as well as Villager main SS[1]. On June 30th, Panda took their first step in Super Smash Bros. Melee by signing Florida-based Sheik player Plup[2]. On November 2nd, Panda signed the EVO 2013 Melee runner-up Wobbles[3]. On June 22nd, 2016, they picked up Ryu main Trela[4]. On June 30th, Alpharad joined the team as their content director[5].
On May 7th, 2016, Panda picked up Dom, Zan, and suar as a newly-formed subteam called PG Stats which specialises in Smash 4 statistics[6]. They are responsible for the Panda Global Rankings, a biannual list that ranks the Top 50 Smash 4 players in the world. Tetra, juddy[7], Giant[8], and Spike were later added to the PG Stats team, although Tetra and juddy later left.
In January 2017, following SS and Trela's departure from the organization, Panda added SoCal's best Mewtwo main Rich Brown to their Smash 4 team and expanded into Super Smash Bros. by picking up SuPeRbOoMfAn, the best player in North America and second best player in the world according to the 64 League Rankings[9]. On April 12th, 2018, Panda added MD/VA's best player Zain to their Melee team[10]. On July 26th, 2018, Panda added Corrin main Cosmos to their Smash 4 team[11].
On November 18th, 2021, Panda announced that they have partnered with Nintendo to create the first officially licensed North American competitive circuit[12]. On May 26th, 2022, the circuit was officially announced as the Panda Cup.[13] It will take place in June 24th-December 18th, 2022 and the featured games are Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
- ^ ESAM and MVD have officially signed with new esports team Panda Gaming!.
- ^ Plup joins Panda.
- ^ Panda signs Wobbles.
- ^ Panda signs Trela, will compete under team banner at CEO.
- ^ Alpharad joins Panda.
- ^ Panda announces new Smash 4 stats team.
- ^ juddy and Tetra join PG Stats.
- ^ Giant joins PG Stats as Lead Systems Engineer!.
- ^ Panda signs SuPeRbOoMfAn and Rich Brown.
- ^ Welcome to the Plup Club: Zain joins Panda!.
- ^ Introducing Panda's newest member, Cosmos!!.
- ^ Announcement of partnership
- ^ Panda Cup announcement
