In September 2015 Riot Games asked professional League of Legends teams, including Cloud9, Counter Logic Gaming, H2K and paiN Gaming, to remove G2A as a sponsor. Riot’s decision was based on direct violations of their terms of service and the League Championship Series rulebook. G2A had promoted a third party service that sells League accounts and offers elo boosting services. Riot and G2A accused each other to not be willing to negotiate. After all, Riot Games had the final word and the ban was executed.

The decision ultimately affected G2A’s presence at the World Championship 2015 as the ban was ruled only two weeks prior. Teams tried to react accordingly and—lacking the time to prepare new jerseys—hid the G2A logo with duct tape. However, G2A cannot be so easily dismissed. The company launched a hilarious campaign against Riot Games. Their first move, a press release, only made G2A look ridiculous by placing itself as the representant of “the entire global e-sports community.”

Here is an unedited excerpt:

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”G2A.COM would like to hear from e-sports fans the world over directly concerning the sudden heavy handed and potentially damaging behavior of US based company, Riot who launched an aggressive attack directed towards the entire global e-sports community in a failed attempt to dominate and control the industry. G2A has invested over $6 million in e-sport sponsorship since 2014.”[/perfectpullquote]

The silly conspiracy theory is hardly convincing. And the argument of G2A investing in esports takes a hit when accusations of unpaid promises arise. According to Jason Bass, co-owner of compLexity Gaming, G2A is not paying teams what they promised. So how much is the $6 million worth after all?

Despite the ban, G2A decided to try and keep presence around Riot’s World Championship. It created a shirt with a popular facepalm meme and gave it away to League of Legends fans attending the Riot’s event. They aggressively advertised their products in front of the stadium while the event was taking place. And mocked the duct-taped jerseys.

As the community had almost forgotten this far from glorious G2A moment, just a few months later, G2A tries to tease Riot again. The trigger? Riot has fined the Brazilian team INTZ for using the banned G2A logo on their jersey. The team had to pay R$5,000 (approx. $1,250). And it looks like the fine was the perfect opportunity for G2A to refresh their childish campaign. Today, G2A published a press release addressing the issue. Again the PR division doesn’t cover itself in glory.

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”G2A.com were recently alerted to an incident that took place during Campeonato Brasileiro de League of Legends (CBLoL) 2016. The incident has spread like wildfire in Brazil where millions ofe-sporters[sic!] are passionate and loyal to e-sports and to G2A because of their many years of encouragement and over 6 million dollars invested in the development of e-sports teams.”[/perfectpullquote]

Witty how G2A claims the loyalty and passion of millions of Brazilian “e-sporters”, isn’t it? The press release goes on:

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”The RIOT ban seems however, to have had the reverse effect, because G2A T-shirts became, overnight, a symbol of protest. E-sports support for G2A grew and the growth of e-sports teams became stronger.”[/perfectpullquote]

You haven’t seen the millions of grim protesters marching towards the Riot headquarter? Well, me neither.

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”G2A’s position and the shock of the Brazilian e-sports team’s fine has, however, created dissent in the e-sports community. One of the main priorities for G2A is to now restore the happiness and stability of e-sports in Brazil.”[/perfectpullquote]

Don’t hang your heads in shame Brazil! G2A will restore happiness and stability again! Praise the saviour!

…

Indeed G2A is a widely distributed sponsor in esports. But their aggressive PR move against Riot fails to convince and simply discredits the company. Anyway, teams should consider if a G2A sponsorship is really worth the money—if they pay at all.