Carlos Rodriguez: Why G2 Esports keeps the faith in a tough industry

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The esports industry has a lot of promise, but it has been whipsawed over the years. Physical events were growing fast and the audience became bigger than that for traditional sports. But esports fans didn’t spend as much money, and so it was hard for any companies in the space to make a profit.

G2 Esports has been one of the rare exceptions, as it has been profitable or near breakeven thanks to a combination of supporting winning teams and generating various kinds of sponsorship, merch, and other revenue. But the pandemic came along and wiped out physical events for a while. And while digital audiences grew, it remained hard to make money.

I talked to Carlos “ocelote” Rodriguez, CEO of G2 Esports, about the industry and the path forward through projects such as Web3 technology. A legendary League of Legends player, he started G2 Esports in 2015 with investor Jens Hilgers.

And today, G2 Esports announced a new all-female League of Legends team. The new team, Hel, will compete in Riot’s main title League of legends and is one of the first all-female elite League of Legends teams worldwide. The new team is part of G2’s ambition to ultimately get female players competing side by side in mixed teams, as teammates, at the highest level possible – sharing the same stages.

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G2’s ultimate goal is to offer equal opportunities and resources that will allow them to reach the same or even higher level of play,