G2 Esports will name Riot Games business development manager and on-stage talent Romain Bigeard as its new League of Legends general manager according to a report from Dot Esports on Thursday. Bigeard is leaving Riot after three years with the company. He formerly worked as the general manager for OpTic Gaming and Unicorns of Love before his move to the game developer.
Sources: @G2esports is hiring @RomainBigeard away from the @LEC biz dev team to become its new League of Legends general manager.
He's got a monumental task ahead of him: to rebuild a G2 roster with two players and very little staff.https://t.co/LepN1o0Zlg
— Jacob Wolf (@JacobWolf) October 14, 2021
The journeyman manager will join G2 at a massive turning point in the League of Legends team’s future. The organization’s owner and CEO Carlos “Ocelote” Rodríguez Santiago confirmed reports Monday that Martin “Wunder”Nordahl Hansen, Martin “Rekkles” Larsson, Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle along with Head Coach Fabian “GrabbZ” Lohmann and strategic coach Sng “Nelson” Yi-Wei are available for buyouts from other teams. Ocelote also said he is looking to replace much of the support staff as well. The team’s analysts Christopher “Duffman” Duff and Luciana “AngelArcher” Nadrag announced Thursday that they are looking for other opportunities as their contracts expire later this year.
G2’s current general manager Jonathan “Taco Storm” Singh has yet to comment, but is expected to be replaced by Bigeard according to the report.
Fans may remember Bigeard for his cosplays and general antics as a part of Unicorns of Love in the European League of Legends Champions Series. He would dress up in face paint and unicorn attire to cheer on his team either on or offstage. He started his career with UOL and then moved to North America to manage OpTic in the organization’s first year in the League Championship Series. With OpTic, the organization’s League of Legends team finished ninth and seventh in spring and summer respectively as Bigeard left for a position at Riot in October of 2018.
Bigeard will join the team as its first new hire, and will presumably lead its restructuring as it will need all new support staff, coaches and three new players.
