Hector Rodriguez, owner and CEO of OpTic Gaming, came to be owner of a major esports franchise out of a sense of brotherly love. As the senior member of a “Call of Duty” team in the mid-2000s, he began to worry his fellow gamers were being taken advantage of. So he “took the ball and ran with it,” assuming executive management duties on behalf of the team in its early days. Eight years later, OpTic is one of the best-known esports franchises in the world, fielding teams in four games and operating a robust gaming-themed content production business. Last year, OpTic won Team of the Year at The Game Awards.
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If you look at traditional sports, we have the viewership to match. In five years, we can have stadiums, franchises and merchandise at that level. I can see OpTic becoming a big franchise like the Yankees and Cowboys. Everything with the internet is so much quicker than it’s been in the past. With the NBA or the NFL, that blueprint has already been set.”
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Photo: COURTESY OF OPTIC GAMING
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On the importance of players creating online content: We were in front of our fans so much — we had this relationship where we were the underdogs in every event we went into, but we were also the most popular team. That is my main belief right there: That if we could connect with our fans, we wouldn’t have to rely on winning in order to make a living off it. … It’s all the familiarity I have with them, the sense of belonging to that team.
Is there a sweet spot for how many games OpTic competes in? I’ve always considered the success of our players’ growth is connected to the fact that we limit the amount of people we allow on the team. I think the shooter category is very good for us. Whether it’s monsters shooting monsters, or soldiers shooting monsters or aliens, that’s where we find our strength.
What’s the revenue mix, sponsorships versus everything else? I think right now we’re at a 60-40 split. Sixty percent of revenue comes from sponsors and the rest is merchandising and content creation/monetization online.
On OpTic’s partnership with rEvXP, an esports marketing consultancy created in 2015: I can tell you it wasn’t until [Managing Director] Dan Ciccone and I partnered together that we were able to bring together our first nonendemic in Pepsi’s Brisk Mate. To me, it’s always been a passion to bring nonendemics to the esport “Call of Duty.” “Call of Duty” is a shooter, it tends to maybe discourage some of the sponsors from getting involved, they might still have an old-school mentality about violent video games. The more that gray hairs start to step away from the picture, the people understand that, at the end of the day, it’s a video game, it’s like paintball almost.
Correct one misunderstanding you think is still out there about esports: There’s so many misunderstandings about gamers. They’re all fat and they’re nerds. That’s no one. Throw that one out the window. That’s old-school mentality. If you think that about professionals, you’re old and you’re not in tune with what’s happening.
