Andrew Tate incident blew up G2's plans for Valorant in North America

For months, G2 Esports has been gaining a foothold in North America, reaching out to the best players and coaches in the region about potentially working for the team. By Sept. 14, a week before developer Riot Games was due to announce its list of collaborating teams for its “Valorant” esports competition, the Berlin-based esports organization seemed certain it had struck a coveted partnership slot, even going as far as The Washington Post offers. an exclusive interview with its CEO, Carlos Rodriguez, on the occasion of G2’s entry into the American league.

But in the end, the team, valued at $340 million by Forbes in May, was not named a “Valorant” partner in any region. Riot released the full list of its 30 partner teams on Wednesday; G2 was not on that list. The developer’s apparent turnaround came after Rodriguez posted a video to Twitter on Sept. 17 in which he partied with anti-feminist influencer and self-described misogynist Andrew Tate. Facing a backlash, Rodriguez doubled up on Twitter, writing, “No one will ever be able to guard my friendships.… I party with whoever the f— I want.”

Rodriguez released and apology the next day, and G2 announced that the executive would be suspended without pay for eight weeks.

“We let you down last night,” reads the tweet from G2 Esports. “Our CEO’s actions spoke a language that was in stark contrast to the values ​​and culture that G2 aspires and pursues. And for that we offer our apologies.”

That weekend, Riot executives gathered in Istanbul for the ‘Valorant’ Champions esports event to discuss the situation. On Monday, when the decisions were passed on to the teams, G2 was no longer eligible for partnership.

G2 declined to comment outside of his first statement announce the suspension of Rodriguez. Rodriguez did not respond to a question sent via Twitter. The offered interview with The Washington Post was never held.

Interview: Riot President of Esports Talks Highly Competitive Valorant Partnerships

In April, Riot Games announced a new structure for “Valorant” esports from 2023, which would reduce the top-level sport’s open entry system to 30 “partnered” organizations that would enjoy unique benefits, including an annual stipend. The season kicks off with an international tournament in São Paulo, Brazil. When the game developer announced on Wednesday which teams had passed the highly selective process, the explanation of the criteria offered a hint as to why G2 was ultimately not offered a partner slot.

“We were looking for three things in our new [Valorant Champions Tour] partners,” Riot’s announcement reads. The first of three bullet points explains that the company was looking for “organizations that share our values ​​of always putting fans first, celebrating our diverse community, and committed to supporting professionals.”

Riot has never formally offered a slot to G2. However, according to people familiar with Riot’s mindset, some teams’ executives were informally given the go-ahead for their partnership applications to allow them to handle the logistics of a potential move.

Riot Games declined to comment, saying it would not discuss individual esports teams.

Since at least June, G2 has expressed an interest in acquiring or working with North American talent. Beginning in the summer and until the partnership failed to materialize, the organization informally reached out to top coaches and players in the region to inquire about interest in working for a US G2 team. For example, G2 contacted members of the Luminosity Gaming “Valorant” roster in June. Those players were eventually transferred to Shopify Rebellion.

G2 also showed great interest in acquiring XSET’s roster and coaching staff if the Boston-based organization failed to make it to the US competition. The team had put in a stellar performance and was ranked as the second best team in North America on the “Valorant” esports news and statistics website VLR.

“To put it simply, it seemed to be going well if G2 got in,” said one person familiar with G2’s contacts with XSET. Now the XSET team is reportedly looking to be picked up by another partner team, be it complete or with core members.

G2 had also interviewed North American talent for a head coach position and sought a general manager and team psychologist.

“[I’m] clearly quite upset,” said Adam “kaplan” Kaplan, a North American coach who interviewed G2 for the role of head coach. G2 had contacted Kaplan in early September. “Five teams is an incredibly low number of teams to trickle NA into …While I am confident in my situation, as a region we are guaranteed to see a large pool of talent that will not get the chance to show São Paulo and the world how competitive a region NA has been over the past two years.”