Gonzo Awards: Worst Manager Of The Year

One thing you'll consistently see in esports is people that can barely run a bath be put in charge of large projects and groups of people. The results should be predictable but it keeps happening.

Previous Winners

🥇 2010: John “jHG” Blackwood

🥇 2011: Marc “virp” Corban

🥇 2012: Dmitry Smilyanets – Moscow Five

🥇 2013: Simon Boudreault

🥇 2014: Noh Dae Chu – AHQ Korea

🥇 2015: No Award

🥇 2016: No Award

🥇 2023: Nicole LaPointe Jameson

And the winner is… Nicole LaPointe Jameson

Who else could it have been? It’s almost bittersweet that with the exception of a few outstanding legal actions this will likely be the last time anyone in esports has cause to write about her. While all previous winners of this award are all guilty of incompetence or behaviour that damages the people in their orbit, none have ever been given as much influence, leeway and ultimately forgiveness than LaPointe Jameson.

By now you’ll have all read the many reports coming out of Evil Geniuses. The stories range from the hilarious – such as staff members claiming that Nicole placed trophies she played no part in winning in her office – to the concerning – multiple staff members spoke of a culture of bullying and intimidation – to the sickening – a young League of Legends prodigy coerced into playing past the point of breaking and inducing health problems. There’s been tens of thousands of words written about her tenure at this point, the bulk of them on this publication and they all corroborate one another. So many people were desperate for it not to be true that even amateurs verified my reporting under the guise of trying to debunk it.

Perhaps what’s most remarkable is the sheer scale of the failure. The parent company of Evil Geniuses pumped tens of millions of dollars into the organisation and initially they enjoyed a type of financial support that few organisations had during the pandemic years. Unfortunately for everyone involved except the handful that earned paychecks they didn’t deserve we now know the principle desire wasn’t success but to DISRUPT the esports industry… Yes, that term that was lampooned in The Glass Onion was actually the new EG’s mission statement.

Imagine the hubris it takes to come into an industry you know next to nothing about, take the reigns at a successful company within that industry and then decide that everyone else in the space is doing things wrong and your ideas are going to revolutionise not just your company but the way everyone does things. Oh and if any of your staff suggests maybe taking things a little bit slower until you get the lay of the land they go on to a naughty list for future usurping. Can’t have dissent in the ranks. We love DISRUPTION but don’t you dare try and disrupt my shit.

Despite the almost comedic levels of failure Nicole’s EG somehow never wasted an opportunity to crow about how their methods were working whenever there was a rare bright spot. Even in her eventual leaving statement she seemed to take credit for the Valorant World Championship win, a feat achieved by hard work by players and coaching staff who received little support and were rewarded for their efforts with the choice of paycuts or contract jail. In another coordinated media interview she maintained she had nothing to apologise for in regards to the treatment of that aforementioned League of Legends prodigy despite multiple sources laying the blame on her doorstep.

All of this and more would make you think she must have received scorn from her peers and colleagues. Instead the most disturbing aspect is just how many people made excuses on her behalf. The Riot Games Communications apparatus all coincidentally arrived at the explanation that these things just happen at organisations because of “systemic” issues. The League of Legends subreddit deleted posts calling her out by name. The investigation into what happened has been quietly stopped without public resolution, a luxury not afforded to other staff and players down the years as EG exited LCS. The organisation, despite running a skeleton crew of staff and a cut price roster, still haven’t been kicked out of the Valorant partnered league either. Too many people were invested in her success as she was, on camera, a charismatic break away from the traditional idea of what esports executives are like. For them to admit they were wrong takes them too close to the line of complicity. After all, it took the usual suspects to speak out about it and protect the anonymous before people were willing to admit that it was an open secret just how bad things were at the organisation.

So on the one hand we did get some genuinely hilarious anecdotes out of this failed project - Peak6 calling her the Warren Buffet of esports will live forever - but that’s not what people should remember. Instead focus on how the only thing that got DISRUPTED by the executive body put in charge were the lives of young adults giving all they had to esports, many of whom are now jobless and still living with the after effects of that working environment. Remember that when LaPointe Jameson turns up on a speaking circuit a few years from now talking about how wacky the esports industry is and how everyone did her wrong.