[Video] Ryosuke Yamada announces joining a professional gaming team: "It feels strange to be here as LEO"

Ryosuke Yamada of the popular group Hey! Say! JUMP has joined the professional e-sports gaming team Crazy Raccoon as a gamer named LEO in their newly established STAR division. The announcement was made in front of the fans at the gaming event CR FES 2025, held at Tokyo Dome (Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo) on the 20th, when Yamada made a surprise appearance.

Yamada appeared at the " Ryosuke Yamada Crazy Raccoon Joining Press Conference" held prior to the event and said with a smile, "I'm so happy to be joining. I'm excited to see what kind of activities await me from now on. I hope that I can have fun with everyone in Crazy Raccoon and that many people will learn about the appeal of the game."

Crazy Raccoon is a professional gaming team formed in April 2018. The team is made up of professional gamers and game streamers divided into 11 divisions. Yamada is known as a game enthusiast, and in 2021 he launched his YouTube gaming channel, "LEO's Playground." He regularly broadcasts live commentary, mainly of the game "Apex Legends," and in May of this year, his channel surpassed one million subscribers. He has had a long-standing relationship with Crazy Raccoon, having participated in the "9th Crazy Raccoon Cup Apex Legends" in 2022.

"It'd be fun if Ryo-chan joined CR." Yamada says that two years ago, while playing a game with the owner of Crazy Raccoon, the owner made this comment, which prompted him to seriously consider the idea. He does all of the "LEO's Playground" streams alone, but "I'm also an idol, and to be honest, there were limits to how much I could handle on my own while working as an actor or idol." He reveals that he thought, "I don't know if it's a way to repay Crazy Raccoon, who has started backing up his streams, but by joining, we can support each other and help everyone learn about the game." He also consulted with his agency, and it took two years to make the idea a reality.

Yamada says of the appeal of gaming, "Even if something unpleasant happened at school or work, I was often able to forget about it in the world of games. It's one of the contents that helps me mentally as well." He is a "short sleeper" who only needs 3 or 4 hours of sleep, and plays games whenever he has free time. He says that he once played against Hey! Say! JUMP's Chinen Yuri for about 20 hours straight on a day off.

The game he is particularly passionate about is "Apex Legends." He is confident that he is "the best in the entertainment industry" when it comes to this game, but he is aware of the difference in skill between him and professional gamers. "Professional gamers who are active at the forefront of the industry have not gotten to where they are with ordinary effort, so I think it would be presumptuous of me to say that I am aiming to become a professional," he said. While he said that he will focus on spreading the joy of games as a streamer in the future, he also left open the possibility that "if I ever encounter a game that I feel is truly God-given to me, I may pursue the path of a gamer." He also said that he would like to actively challenge himself in tournaments.

When asked by a reporter if he was a "two-sword wielder" as an idol and a gamer, Yamada replied jokingly, "Well, I've been an idol solo, in a group, a gamer, and an actor. I don't know if I'm a three-sword wielder or a four-sword wielder, but I hope everyone will remember that I'm an incredible person." He received a uniform with "LEO" on the back and was smiling throughout the press conference.