Loughborough College has gone head to head with gamers from across the region at a Ukie 2019 eSports final.
The games development students competed in the flagship video games event, organised by the country’s only trade body for the UK games and interactive entertainment industry.
The annual national competition is part of Ukie’s Digital Schoolhouse initiative, bridging the gap between education and a UK industry which, according to latest figures, is valued at £5.11 billion. More than 32 million people in the UK play games and there are 2,261 active games companies, with the global software market expected to grow from $137.9billion in 2018 to an estimated $180.1 billion by the end of 2021.
After winning their first tournament, the Loughborough College team 3p1cg4m3r5, including Adam Baxter, Niken Mesvania and Jaden Baston went through to the regional finals at the Belong Gaming Lounge in Nottingham.
Alongside its trio of players the College’s shoutcasters, capturing the excitement and providing analysis of the action over a Twitch stream on the day, included Zain Ismail, Ewan Miller, and Bailey Johnson.
In addition to being invited to play games, shoutcasting was one of many eSports career opportunities students were given the chance to explore at the event, including team management, event organisation and presenting.
“Adam, Niken and Jaden competed against Coventry College and Cambridge Regional College, topping the leader board by the time we broke for lunch,” said Tony Lowis, a course leader for Loughborough College’s games development programme.
“At the end of the day, Loughborough and Coventry and played a best of five final round.
“Although it was close, Coventry won – but it was nevertheless a great achievement for the students to reach the regional finals in the first year of the College entering the competition.
“It was a fantastic experience for the students and certainly opened their eyes to the huge range of roles open to them in the gaming industry.
“We will definitely be putting together teams for next year’s competition.”
Pictured: (from left) Loughborough College games development students Adam Baxter, Jaden Baston and Niken Mesvania compete at the 2019 eSports finals