Pro Gamer rpr’s Next Move: Why He Joined a Japanese Company as a Full-Time Employee

European champion becomes employee of Japanese company

Born in Croatia, rpr made his professional gaming debut at the Apex Legends Preseason Invitational in 2019. Competing in tournaments for the online game Apex Legends (hereafter Apex), he joined the European division of SCARZ, one of Japan’s top professional esports teams, in 2021. During his time with the team, he achieved remarkable results, including winning the ALGS Championship 2021 EMEA. This accomplishment is comparable to a Japanese-owned soccer team winning the UEFA Champions League.

Despite building a brilliant career as a professional gamer, in January 2024, KINOTROPE, a company that owns a professional gaming team, announced on X:

“Former European Champion rpr has joined KINOTROPE Inc. as a full-time employee.”

The sudden transition of a world-class gamer into a full-time employee at a Japanese company became a hot topic in the esports community.

After SCARZ disbanded, rpr had been working as a streamer. But why did a successful gamer decide to work for a Japanese company? He spoke about his past and future.

“I decided to retire as a professional gamer because my SCARZ teammates at the time, Mande and Taisheen, each found their own new paths to pursue. Since I had no intention of competing in tournaments with other players, I chose to disband the team. After retiring, I continued my career as a streamer in my home country of Croatia.”

rpr’s interest in Japan was sparked by his family background and his friendships with Japanese streamers.

Thanks to gaming, I was able to make friends in Japan

“I originally wanted to live in Japan. My father was fond of Japanese culture and history, so we had books on Japanese history at home. Even though Japan is far from Croatia, I felt a certain closeness to it.

When I became a high school student, I started watching Japanese anime and reading manga. That’s when I began thinking, ‘I want to go to Japan.’

For the past few years, I’ve been both a pro player and a streamer for Apex. This game is more popular in Japan than overseas, and a lot of people play it. Thanks to this game, I was able to make friends with Japanese streamers and VTubers. That final push gave me the determination to go to Japan and take on a new challenge.”

To make his move to Japan a reality, rpr started searching for jobs related to eSports, a field he was already involved in. The existing eSports scene in Japan was another reason for his decision to relocate. However, he found that living in Japan as a streamer alone was not a viable option.

“As a streamer, it was difficult to obtain a visa other than a tourist visa. So, I thought that if I joined a company, I would be able to live in Japan. While researching eSports-related companies, my friend Yuriece introduced me to KINOTROPE. Then, the company’s CEO, Ikuta, personally offered me a position, saying, ‘I’d love for you to come to Japan.’ We reached an agreement that worked for both sides, and I decided to join the company.”

Ikuta recalled, “Other eSports-related companies wanted him to continue his activities in Croatia. So, I told him that our company would prepare everything he needed, and we invited him to work with us in Japan.”

“My work involves promotion and branding.”

“At KINOTROPE, I have the opportunity to learn about back-office operations, which sets it apart from other companies. Many other offers I received were simply requests to stream for promotional purposes. But I came to Japan for a new challenge. If I can develop skills beyond streaming and video content creation, I’d like to take on other tasks as well. I’ve also been interested in web-related work, so Mr. Ikuta has been teaching me about design.”

When asked about his actual job responsibilities, he says, “Basically, it won’t be much different from what I’ve been doing.”

“I’m currently on a tourist visa, so I’m not officially working yet. But around April 2025, my visa status will change, and I’ll start working as an official employee of KINOTROPE. My main role will be streaming as a company-affiliated streamer, focusing on promotion and branding. Essentially, my current activities will become my full-time job, and I plan to increase my streaming frequency moving forward.

I don’t know how long I’ll stay in Japan, but I’d like to live here for at least two to three years. There are a lot of things I won’t fully understand until I experience them firsthand, so I want to try it out before deciding how long I’ll stay. So far, I’m really enjoying it—having a Suica card lets me go anywhere easily. Compared to my rural hometown, life here is on a completely different level.”

He temporarily returned home to Croatia for Christmas to spend time with his family, but as of 2025, his new life in Japan has begun. And he has plenty of things he wants to do.

“Of course, I want to learn more about Japanese culture and history, but I also hope to strengthen my own content and personal brand. I have many streamer friends in Japan, and I want to deepen those friendships. I’d also like to make even more friends. I’m looking forward to finally meeting people I’ve only known online and filming food tour videos with them—doing things that can only be experienced in Japan. There are so many things I want to do.”

Having already found success as a pro gamer and streamer, rpr’s next challenge is in Japan. With his level of determination and action, there’s no doubt he’ll make his dreams come true.