Carlos “Ocelote” Rodriguez is the hot-blooded owner of G2, the strongest European team in League of Legends. Looking at esports and what other LoL teams are doing to build their brand and make money, he shakes his head.
This is the situation:
In Germany, “Eintracht Spandau” is a team that also relies heavily on its brand:
Everything you need to know about the LoL team Eintracht Spandau – in 4 minutes
G2 in LoL in transition, but the company value is doubled in 2 years
Why is G2’s growth so remarkable? From 2020 to 2022, G2 didn’t do as well in League of Legends as in previous years, when they had a solid team and actually won constantly, even making it to the finals of Worlds 2019:
But it was by no means as if everything was going brilliantly between 2020 and 2022. On the contrary: Of the 5 regular players with whom you started the phase, only 2 are now there.
Those who rely too heavily on individual creators become unattractive for large brands
What is your key to success? In an interview with Forbes, the head of the team explains what makes you different from the competition:
We monetize very differently than our competition: They often only monetize their individual creators, which brings a very small margin and cannot be scaled or sustained.
According to Rodriguez, a company with such a strong focus on creators also struggles to find quality partners to work with. Whereas G2 works with heavyweights like Red Bull, BMW, Mastercard or Phillips.
G2 relies on building its own brand and logo with entertaining storytelling. If you successfully build teams and specialize in storytelling, you are in control of your own success and also become extremely attractive for advertising partners:
Sponsor deals are a big part of sustaining a business. We are able to create more value for our partners than they pay us, ultimately making them willing to renew their deals. It’s something we’re proud of and it shows how we’ve been able to add value to them over the years.
You don’t just have to win, you have to win entertainingly
According to Rodriguez, not only is it important to win, but you also have to be entertaining. You can do that through exciting storytelling. Everything must always be linked to the brand.
Everything is a bad investment if you don’t build a brand.
According to Rodriguez, an esports team doesn’t work like a typical sports team: people who live locally would just show up to support their team. This is not the case in e-sports. As long as you create content in English and target video gamers, people from all over the world would see the content and turn into fans.
Meanwhile, some in North America would rather stick with G2 than a US team in an international tournament because brand is more important than nationality.
In a podcast, we talked intensively to the creators of the German LoL team Eintracht Spandau:
“What are other teams doing all the time – maybe a lot of parties?”
Is that what he says to other teams? Rodriguez elaborates:
So many teams fail to turn a profit, and that doesn’t surprise me at all. Some teams have lost tens of millions of dollars in dollars. That’s about what I’ve invested since founding G2. I have no idea what our competition is up to – maybe a lot of parties? But what exactly are they celebrating?
He exempts some teams from the harsh criticism:
If you are developing a new game, you need G2
For his own team, Rodrigeuz is now planning what FaZe has already achieved:
“If I’m being honest, we’re getting to the point where we’re getting too big to fail. We have too much of a lead on reputation – too much credibility built over the years, on a business and fan level. This also applies to publishers: if you develop a new game, you need G2”.
Anyone interested in e-sports will most likely be drawn to G2. If you are a brand that would like to sponsor a top team, you will most likely end up at G2.
That’s what G2 means by “story-telling” – the whole squad takes part in a hype video.
This is behind it: What G2 does that other teams don’t: G2 may have big names on the team, like Perkz or Caps, but always make sure that the “G2” brand is the most important one and is known for having a “own style”:
G2 have built a reputation as a “cool, a bit trolly team” who don’t take LoL all that seriously and like to taunt opponents and tease each other. This reputation has been cultivated for years:
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