Why G2 Esports is hiring from the agency world as it looks to expand beyond gaming

“We hate when we are squeezed into boxes, and we don’t just want to be seen as an esports org, or as a gaming brand, or whatever. We always have the urge to be more, and we believe we have the secret sauce on how we can tell stories way outside of esports,” said G2 COO Sabrina Ratih. “There is one thing that we feel is maybe missing, and that is an in-depth media and advertising understanding, to really 100 percent understand how brands think.”

Lacrouts could very well provide that capability for G2. He is joining the company after a nine-year stint as the CEO and co-founder of Hurrah.media, one of the first independent agencies to focus on the gaming and esports audience. During his time at Hurrah, Lacrouts worked with non-endemic brands such as HP and Coca-Cola, as well as Riot Games and other endemic esports companies. 

“Independent agencies in esports and gaming have been through a lot since COVID and the esports winter. For the last three years, and really a bit more, the main competitors in pitches and RFPs were G2s, were Riot Games — the IP owners themselves,” Lacrouts said. “Because brands want their reach, and because they trust that they have the biggest expertise.”

Lacrouts’ new role as G2’s head of media house differs from that of the heads of media that are already present both at G2 and other prominent esports orgs. Although his first clients will be G2’s pre-existing sponsors, he told Digiday that he plans to expand the company’s client pool and work in a more white-label capacity with non-endemic brands that do not have a formal partnership with G2 Esports.

Lacrouts is already working to help widen G2’s borders outside of esports. In September, for example, the company is planning to help support the launch of a tabletop game, though he declined to specify exactly which one. 

“We’re talking with manga and anime brands — every brand that wants to use this fandom, we believe that we are equipped as G2 Media House to help them do this,” he said. “People trust us for gaming and esports, and now, with this new set of services, we think we can go a bit above and beyond.”

The expansion of one of the winningest competitive gaming teams into the agency business reflects the ongoing rise of the esports industry’s holding company model. In addition to G2, esports companies such as GameSquare and Enthusiast Gaming have actively worked to expand their appeal to marketers far beyond competitive gaming in recent years.

G2 itself has not been shy about bringing other businesses into the fold, including a merger with Version1 at the end of 2023. Although G2’s hiring of Lacrouts does not include the acquisition of his agency — Lacrouts said that he wound down the company before making the jump to his new role — it certainly reflects the absorption of his and his company’s knowledge and connections in the marketing world. Lacrouts does not plan to bring anyone from the agency along with him to G2 in a full-time capacity.

“Some esports organizations are doubling down on the competitive side of things, and using that as their North Star for eventual profitability and revenue growth, and other companies are going more the content house way, trying to become a Gen-Z touchpoint for the marketplace,” said Jason Chung, the director of esports and gaming at New York University. “Which one will win, I’m not quite sure — but at the same time, there is a risk of market confusion about what you do, and a further dilution of what ‘esports’ means in the marketplace.”