G2 Esports has launched the G2 Performance Lab, a research and innovation platform backed by Red Bull that the organization says will embed scientific methods into its competitive teams and produce findings for the wider esports industry.
The Berlin-based esports organization said the lab will focus on performance development, athlete wellbeing, coaching, training design, and support systems across G2’s elite rosters. The initiative is led by Ismael Pedraza-Ramirez, G2’s Performance Lab Director and performance coach, and will involve academic collaborators from institutions including the German Sport University Cologne and Vrije Universiteit Brussel, according to the announcement.
The launch reflects a broader maturation of the esports business, where leading organizations are increasingly looking beyond roster spending and sponsorship inventory toward infrastructure that can improve competitive outcomes, support player longevity, and create defensible operating advantages. In traditional sports, performance departments spanning sleep, nutrition, psychology, recovery, and data analysis are now standard at the elite level. In esports, those systems remain less established, despite growing research attention around the cognitive, psychological, and health demands placed on professional players.
Pedraza-Ramirez is part of that emerging academic field. Public research records show he has contributed to work on esports psychology, coaching, and mental health in competitive gaming, including research affiliated with the German Sport University Cologne and G2 Esports. A 2024 paper on mental health in esports, co-authored by Pedraza-Ramirez and others, argued that competitive gamers face health challenges that remain under-addressed and require more applied initiatives and future research.
G2 said the lab’s first project, “A Space for Leaders,” focuses on leadership development across staff through research and collaborative learning. The organization described the project as part of one of four pillars: coaching and coach development. The other pillars are training design and delivery, player development, and performance health and support systems.
The announcement does not disclose financial terms of Red Bull’s support or the duration of the collaboration. It also does not say when the first research findings will be published, beyond stating that publications are expected in the near future.
Red Bull’s role is strategically notable because the company has long positioned itself around athlete performance, not only sponsorship visibility. Its Athlete Performance Center describes itself as a “global performance accelerator” for professional athletes and teams, while Red Bull’s esports activity has included competitive events, team partnerships, and player-focused performance content.
G2 and Red Bull also have an existing commercial relationship. G2 announced a multi-year partnership with Red Bull in 2019, describing it at the time as an extension of prior collaboration around Red Bull Racing. Red Bull is currently listed among G2’s partners on the organization’s website.
“As a long-standing partner of G2, Red Bull has played a central role in supporting the vision behind the G2 Performance Lab,” G2 CEO Alban Dechelotte said in the announcement. “Red Bull’s track record of investing in athlete performance and high-performance environments speaks for itself. Across traditional sports and esports alike, they share our ambition to build something truly impactful. When you have partners around the table who have that same mindset, it pushes ideas further, raises the standard, and helps challenge what’s possible.”
For G2, the lab adds another layer to its positioning as both an esports team operator and entertainment brand. The organization has expanded across competitive titles and adjacent sports-entertainment formats, including its entry into Gerard Piqué’s Kings League through G2 Football Club. G2 also raised a seven-figure Series B round in 2025, with CEO Alban Dechelotte saying at the time that the organization had been profitable for multiple years.
Pedraza-Ramirez said the lab is intended to address a knowledge gap around elite esports development.
“The work we’re doing at the G2 Performance Lab is truly innovative for esports and sports, and is going to revolutionise how we approach performance improvement at G2 and beyond,” Pedraza-Ramirez said in the announcement. “Elite esports competitors are incredible at what they do, yet they have the potential to go even further. Little is still known about how to properly develop them into world-class competitors, and we’re taking steps to change that with Red Bull’s support.”