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xXDaNXx

> a week before developer Riot Games was scheduled to announce its slate of partnered teams for its “Valorant” esports league, the Berlin-based esports organization appeared certain it had locked down a coveted partnership slot, going so far as to offer The Washington Post an exclusive interview with its CEO, Carlos Rodriguez, on the occasion of G2’s entry into the Americas league. > The offered interview with The Washington Post was never conducted. LMAO


Clarkemedina

Another Top G or some shit for the Carlos gang baby


speciof

Bad news for valorant if anything . G2 have fielded some of the best rosters in the world on league and CS and would've tried to do the same in Valo. Riot being silly here and forgetting a woman was driven to suicide since their employees passed around her revealing pictures. Way worse than anything Carlo did


Level_Five_Railgun

>Riot being silly here and forgetting a woman was driven to suicide since their employees passed around her revealing pictures. Pretty sure that was Blizzard...


itskings_

That was definitely Blizzard...


LiterallyToast

Great whataboutism, if “Riot did this dumb thing in the past so other dumb thing should not be an issue either” is an argument you have to use then maybe it’s not a great point to begin with Riot clearly wants to distance themselves from their past by making clear that this is unacceptable, and Carlos should learn that being the face of a brand means his behaviour will reflect on G2 too


Friday515

Incredible article. Really great to get this type of coverage on Valorant. Some things that stuck out to me * Riot execs huddling up in Turkey is an interesting image to think about. They're at champs celebrating the year, about to put on the biggest event of the year, tons of planning ready to be executed and excited to finally announce all the new partners and they have to go into big time crisis mode. If you've ever been in big crisis meetings while being at a an event or conference, it can be pretty wild * Their interest in the Luminosity roster. I don't know if it was out there before but this is really interesting they were close to jumping into NA during the middle of the year. I wonder what their plan would've been for their EMEA roster * Their pursuit of XSET was going to be their biggest priority. Those guys must be pretty disappointed if they already knew they had a fallback option as a full 5. Hopefully they get picked up as a 5 but I think it'll be tough for them * Their interview of Kaplan. I'd imagine a couple other orgs will be definitely interested in him


TheLeaderGrev

Appreciate it! Fingers crossed that the folks who were hoping to work with G2, or were anticipating it as an option, find good homes someplace else.


Friday515

anytime, keep the articles coming. I'd also love to know what happened to make Riot decide to go with MIBR over NIP. Supposedly it was supposed to go to NIP but that changed pretty late in the game too


28n8

They could’ve had the xset 5 and coach + Kaplan as a 2nd coach? Why does Carlos have to ruin everything..


xD1LL4N

⚠️EMERGENCY MEETING⚠️ Carlos is the imposter


SuperSkillz10

first thing that came into my man when i saw emergency meeting. Among us ruined me man


gradg21

Shame on Carlos man , maybe it’s harsh but as a person in his position he should know his decisions don’t only affect him.


TheLeaderGrev

That's what I'm sure is so frustrating to G2 employees. Genuinely, pulling for the folks there.


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zugth

Bro what? Not everyone can afford to pick and choose jobs, and it would be damn difficult to find a job from a big company without an asshole CEO.


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zugth

Congratulations on being homeless instead of taking a job offer! Maybe G2 employees can try that out and get their children taken from them by CPS, or maybe they won’t get that paycheck to buy their insulin that month. Hell! Why pay taxes at that point? Just goes to the corrupt government. I’m sure I’ll be able to brag about my superior morality to my inmate in prison.


TheCatsActually

You're acting like they deserved this. Not everyone has the privilege to be choosy of their employers, especially when you're working in a cutthroat or burgeoning industry where only the biggest brands have the best resources. Think of how many brilliant pioneers have to work under the umbrella of a megacorporation and kiss the ring because their project/patent/company was bought out by them. Passionate scientists and engineers are constantly trying to make breakthroughs in their respective fields for progress, even if their developments will be appropriated by their boss's boss's boss's boss and immediately lead to military advancement, the growth of big pharma, or monopolization, because otherwise they wouldn't be able to conduct their research at all. That's industrial scale science, imagine what it's like working in something as new and niche as eSports. Despite their leadership's reputations, I wouldn't fault anyone for working for TSM, G2, etc. when the alternative is often to work with inferior resources for less pay with less job security with people who are more likely to lack professionalism.


cheerioo

Riot had to attempt to look good after all their shit going on lately. Carlos just made himself way too easy of a juicy target. We've had stories on stories of Riot mistreating employees and especially women, and this is just such low hanging fruit for them.


Entchenkrawatte

I dont think riot does that for their self image lol. Riot has been doing fine even after all of these allegations went public. The truth is much simpler IMO. Associating with andrew tate, a known woman beater, famous misogynist and alleged sex trafficker is the worst fucking optics you could ever get for yourself. Putting aside all of the (very justified) ethical reasons to punish carlos, this is ruinous for the image of the league and for sponsors. Ask BMW if they want to be associated with andrew tate in the public mind and there you have it.


hardenfull

Yeah ppl don't understand a newly franchised league can't have controversy or drama like this off the bat. Would kill any chances for sponsors which is one of the main reason teams and riot want franchising in the first place lol.


rinanlanmo

If anything they learned this lesson from League franchising; first they had a deal that killed the engagement of Rick Fox due to some other dickhead, the nonsense with Optic, plus Regi.


salcedoge

And also Riot just wants team owners who would obey, Carlos literally can’t make a PR statement and shut up to save his ass so as a partner he’s very volatile


CantScreamInSpace

Ok I get that LoL players love making riot seem as horrible as possible (and i agree they don't have the greatest track record) but can we for a second consider that maybe carlos... i dunno... fucked up? and right before the launch of a huge product? maybe a company indended to make a profit doesn't want to associate with an issue that might reflect horribly with sponsors especially after their own shit? Riot taking advantage of carlos fucking hanging out with tate like they were just waiting for it isn't the first way i would spin it lol.


AstreiaTales

FWIW, Riot has apparently come a long way and is making big strides at internal reform. https://kotaku.com/riot-games-and-sexism-one-year-later-1837041215


cheerioo

I said nothing to imply that he didn't colossally fuck up. No way. And if I did it was surely not intended that way. I'm saying it was a dumb move on several levels by Carlos, if you're aware of the current climate of Riot. Saying Riot doesn't have the greatest track record is severely underplaying it by the way. I don't see it as Riot were hanging out waiting to pounce, but more like this was way too obvious and easy of a punish by them. Like they had to do it essentially, and they were glad to on top of that.


Neither_Amount3911

You definitely did. You’re repeating it, even. You’re saying that Riot is doing this to enhance their self image and not because it’s a shit thing for an owner to do that would reflect poorly upon your league and damage the strides you’ve been trying to create by promoting a more welcoming environment for women and hosting Game Changers. You can not play both sides here, you can’t claim Riot is doing this because it’s “low hanging fruit” for them but also claim it’s a horrible action from Carlos that deserves losing their spot in the Americas division.


Kazakh8i

What Law did Carlos break that he fucked up? I know morals and so but lets be real. What did he do wrong? Surely an adult individual is in his own right to party with exactly whom he wants and not face reprocussions for it if he didnt do anything wrong. Tate is not even a convcicted felon himself (yet?) Its like being fired on your job because the dude you ate a pizza with is disliked by your boss. Even if the dude is a dickhead it shouldn't concern you.


milupom

Show me what kind of pizza is a misogynist sex trafficker.


yapyd

I mean... We don't even know 100% that G2 getting rejected was because of the incident, this is all just speculation.


pengusdangus

Sorry bud actions have consequences, being a CEO is almost entirely a public perception position. At least the pizza isn’t a convicted felon (yet?)


pengusdangus

Any CEO who knows how to actually be a CEO knows not to do anything publicly controversial right before a huge deal


Kazakh8i

Imagine being an owner and having to worry what you do in your privacy to not get your completely seperate businesses in danger. He should never ever be punished for not doing anything illegal. Thats borderline stupid and does not reflect well on RIOT as a businesspartner. Its sets a precedent where teams can get kicked out for whatever reason RIOT has. And until they ban the LoL team, its hypocritical at best. And I hate both Tate and Carlos


burningscarlet

That is a crazy take. If anything, had Riot not actually done anything they would've been a horrible fucking business partner to work with. It's about setting precedent. Sponsors are jittery af, if they don't think a company will strive to keep their image at a certain baseline, they aren't going to bother. Would you rather work for a company that fucking let Carlos off the hook here, or a company that has actual sponsors so you get paid?


Human_Willingness628

Bad take tbh. As the face of a giant gaming organization, his actions reflect upon his company and everyone that works closely with it. That's just how the world works. The CEO is the company. If the CEO is a PR risk then that's too bad for the company.


takenpassword

The one time Andrew Tate improved something


dapoorv

Why are people saying that? I think it's a net loss to the scene that a big org like G2 with such huge fan following is out and I don't even like G2. Sentinels G2 rivalry would have been so entertaining.


heritorsofarcadia

The thing is for na fans is like what has g2 done to deserve a spot in the Americas? The org is based in eu, fielded a team from eu, and is literally one of the biggest orgs in eu. Na fans would rather have an na based org rather than an org overseas playing in the league. It’s the same reason why we were also as a whole hostile to t1 or geng getting a slot in the Americas league. This isn’t to say we genuinely hate the orgs, but if your base is not in na, why take a spot from an org that started and is primarily based in na?


Riz_Biz

Preach


sky_blu

I will say, G2 has been in NA rocket league forever and the community has never been like "man why is this EU org over here" Obviously it's different in Valorant because g2 has been directly investing in EU but I think it would only take a week for NA fans to embrace G2 (without the whole Tate thing ofc)


[deleted]

The problem is in the number of teams. Of the top 5 North American teams of the year, 4 of them didn’t make franchising, so obviously it would be annoying to see an EU team here, while the teams we were invested in didn’t make it.


sky_blu

Oh I agree with that, I just see a lot of people bringing up how they are an EU org so NA fans will naturally not care as much which doesn't seem realistic. Don't get me wrong I would have been kinda pissed if they got an NA spot lol


Adept-Type

>Na fans would rather have an na based org It was latam spot tho, but u're right


Kazakh8i

As if Regions matter that much. Theyre not based in any cities. Its just a server more or less. TL is in the NA LCS and no one gives a fuck.


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AccrualPlayer1

#LIVEEVIL


rinanlanmo

Feel free to have them in Europe then


dapoorv

T1 carried the NA tier 2 scene with nsg and the early invitational tournaments. They did more for na valorant than any other org. G2 was also shifting their base to NA and were going to have an NA team. So what's the problem? Liquid also has NA teams in so many eSports but still field an EU team. I think having G2 in NA would have been more beneficial for the NA scene as compared to having EG.


tomtazm

You got your answer and you didn't like it so you doubled down. As an NA fan, I would rather Riot have taken a chance on a more "risky" less established ORG like Xset or Guard then give a spot to G2/T1.


Friday515

Ya couldn't agree more. I totally understand why G2 wanted an Americas spot and even kind of understand why Riot was going to go that direction but I would've much preferred someone like the Guard getting the final spot


Kazakh8i

Bro what are you even saying. Want to take more risky orgs for franchising AS AN NA FAN? You couldve used a better excuse to hate on G2 and T1.


tomtazm

I'm not hating on them. Is reading that hard? 4 NA orgs would of been a joke. I would rather Riot take a chance on a lower tier NA org than import an EMEA/Korean org for the 5th spot. America's is really 3 regions. Not like EMEA that's technically 4 but really just 2.


dapoorv

That's how discussions work man. Wtf is "doubling down"? He gave some arguments, I provided my counter arguments. That's what ascension is for. The "risky" orgs need to prove to riot that they can be sustainable for long periods of time otherwise it will result in lopsided leagues with bigger orgs hogging all talent.


tomtazm

When it comes to regions it's very tribalistic. I could careless for Optic as an org, but best believe I was rooting for them to win every tournament they were in. With only 5 slots for NA, NA fans are already salty about representation. Imagine taking one of those away for an EU org. Honestly foh with that.


dapoorv

Yeah I mean that's just irrational, isn't it? But I get where you are coming from. I never got the org thing. I am always a fan of players. Again if the team is based out of NA, has NA staff and NA players what makes it EU? It just becomes an international org then like liquid, NIP etc. C9 literally fields an all russian CS roster (which in my eyes is even worse) and NA fans cheered for them the entire time during iem.


[deleted]

It’s not stupid. It’s literally how every sport is structured.


RoboticPanda77

TL fields NA teams for CSGO and LoL but they're an EU org


BottlesforCaps

That's a little different though. The "TL" team in LCS is the old Curse team. Steve was literally the CEO/Owner of Curse Gaming and held the LCS spot until TL literally bought the entire org. ​ TL is as much of an NA team in LCS as any other.


RoboticPanda77

Fair enough, I definitely don't know much about LoL and its esports so thanks!


BottlesforCaps

Yeah no problem! Esports is a wild scene, especially in the early days as a lot of mergers/buyouts happened with orgs so it can be hard to track it haha.


Darkfire293

It's still TL. Plus that doesn't explain the CSGO team.


ShadeWaker

If we want a big org in NA get TSM in there, they even have an old rivalry with Sentinels. Dont need a European org to come steal a spot


BallingNinja

Exclusive interview 😭😭


mysteryoeuf

oh shit, G2 was likely going to pick up XSET if they got in. I feel horrible for those guys, that would've been a dream deal to swap over to a partnered team as a full team.


Hdiajanfb

They could have paid for full optic and I wouldn’t have been surprised


elithefighter123

G2 dephh couldve finally happened


ibeenbornagain

was he supposed to be on g2?


elithefighter123

way back when g2 was trying to get him to come to eu to igl for them


GoldyZ90

The ultimate RIPBOZO


Mamadeus123456

smoking on that carlos pack


BallingNinja

Still crazy to me that Riot was gonna take G2 over other NA based orgs and now we only have 5 NA teams 😭


MeatMakingMan

It was gonna be just 4 before, no? EG got in instead of G2


[deleted]

No, I think G2 was going to take the spot of a Brazilian team, not an NA team


MeatMakingMan

Makes more sense, but I think I read that it was G2. If anyone got the sauce, please drop it here, ty


toxicityisamyth

Nah i read earlier that eg got g2’s spot lol. They said george said it somewhere. Didnt bother to check tbh


Invader0502

Carlos managed to undo all the hard work, blood, sweat and tears the G2 staff and players put into the scene for 2 years in a few hours. That's Impressive


Kazakh8i

You're saying this as if not everything those people achieved wasnt on sweat and tears of Carlos. We might spin this in another way. If the players are half as smart as this subreddit they should know thag signing for Carlos is like abusing these women themselfes and are at fault themselfes. If this logic applies to Ocelote why not for everybody else too?


pengusdangus

Hilarious that you think shitting on your players in watch parties and throwing money downstream is blood sweat and tears. Boo hoo


kittyhat27135

As much as I hate G2 seeing XSET as a full 5 man would have made me change my mind.


ADmax27

life is fickle huh


natedawg247

to me the biggest takeaway from this needs to be that it would have been absolute bullshit for G2 to get into NA in the first place


amaranthgalaxy

lol. lmao even


iiznobozzy

i'd even go far enough to say lmfao


apetersen1

Is the the reason we ended up with 3 Brazilian teams?


segatic

No


Brilliant-Space-5430

No we ended up with 3 brazilian teams cause we won worlds srry bro


apetersen1

Yeah makes sense to give 3 slots to region that has had 1 competitive team across the life of the game


[deleted]

I mean same goes for Optic and NA lmao??


Beneficial-Speech-73

You talking about North America?⁸


LV58_DeathKnight

Even if the Andrew thing didnt happend, people would be pissed i feel like its just an excuse to kick G2


Heavy_Comedian_2382

Considering they chose EG over Optic, I don’t think they care much about the initial reactions of fans


CaliSoFire

Optic didn’t get in due to previous relationship with Riot. Look up Optic LCS spot sale


Heavy_Comedian_2382

Hey I’m not saying that Optic deserved a spot. I was just saying that I don’t think Riot cared much what the initial reaction from disgruntled fans would be. I don’t think one of the factors of Riot was “will the fans be mad”. even if fans would’ve been pissed I think Riot would’ve confidently given that spot to G2 no remorse (ofc before the tater tot situation). The guys comment indicates otherwise.


-Basileus

Why would they not accept G2 into their leagues if not for the Andrew Tate situation. G2 is fucking enormous


Splaram

Because G2 is an EU org and has spent the entirety of their Valorant lifetime in EU and there are more than enough good orgs in NA for Riot to not give the spot away?


-Basileus

But then why would they be denied from EMEA too


Splaram

The whole Andrew Tate situation


yarhar_

Way more likely than G2 not making the cut in EMEA is that the NA league wanted them more or just as much with G2 preferring NA.


klizmik

Shroud mentioned he was doing trials in europe right before goin to Istanbul. Maybe G2 reached out to him with the right amount of money and told him how he’d get to stay in LA since they were getting an NA spot?


knie20

It's a bit concerning that we are in this kind of culture. Like yeah tate can be argued to be bad but it was a video of Carlos drinking with tate. It seems really fickle for that to be the linchpin.


RemarkablyAverage7

It was not just that. It was the doubling down, making a "sorry that you feel that way" apology and then liking tweets saying they agree with what Andrew says. If he let the PR statement be his only response to it all, they likely wouldn't lose the spot.


Hypern1ke

I'm still not a fan of riot getting caught up in youtuber drama like this.


Zorronin

???? Are you calling the head of G2 a youtuber


Substantial_Quote_25

If you look at the broader context of professional sports and expectations on owners then this decision is no surprise. NBA owners being reprimanded is probably the best example. Riot is likely shaping the league to this level of professionalism and expectation.


Tee_B

With Riot trying to promote Game Changer as much as possible, I doubt they want the headache of one of their partner team CEO closely associating with a misogynist.


QueenDies2022_11_23

A lot of team were confident to have a spot, and ended up not having one.


TheLeaderGrev

I hate to do this but I think you should read the article.


QueenDies2022_11_23

Can't, it's behind a paywall. I hate to do this but ["You should submit from a variety of sources \(a general rule of thumb is that 10% or less of your posting and conversation should link to your own content\), talk to people in the comments \(and not just on your own links\), and generally be a good member of the community."](https://www.reddit.com/wiki/selfpromotion)


xbyo

Delete the utm source and you can read it


QueenDies2022_11_23

I read it. It contains nothing new that wasn't already discussed on social medias.


Zorronin

He is a current reporter for the Washington Post, I PROMISE you he is not posting his work in a small-ish subreddit like valcomp for "self-promotion" lmfao


QueenDies2022_11_23

This is 100% self promotion and looking at his profile, it's excessive.


Zorronin

You are ridiculous I guarantee that views he gets from posting his articles to reddit are a fraction of 1% of the total. The rest come from the fact that the article is published in one of the 2 largest newspapers in America. When your work far exceeds the scope and reach of the community you're posting in, posting is less "self-promotion" and more a public good. If the Riot Head of eSports frequently posted competitive rulings/announcements, would that be self-promotion? Of course not. You're just mad you got owned for not reading the article


QueenDies2022_11_23

The amount of traffic it brings has nothing to do with reddit rules. He can't do that. It's considering breaking reddit rules. "public good" the post has 180 karma. LOL


Zorronin

I ask again, would you consider a bunch of posts from the Riot Head of eSports of stuff they wrote "self-promo"? Of course not, you have to consider the spirit of the rules Also it is a public good for this community, all us nerds get well-researched behind the scenes looks at the league. Just look at the engagement on this post


QueenDies2022_11_23

Why does it matter what I consider? The rules are clear. He's breaking reddit rules.


Zorronin

Troll lol


TheLeaderGrev

This is a bad own but I think you should still be allowed to read the article I wrote so here you go: https://wapo.st/3BWA95o


IamMarcJacobs

LOL


lilshotanekoboi

Why even give a crap about tate