More and more esports/gaming bars are cropping up across the UK – and Aberdeen’s Engage Gaming is the latest to open.
Billed as Scotland’s ‘first esports centre and one of its kind in Europe’, it provides gamers with a venue to meet, play and compete.
Owners say the cafe caters for everyone ‘from after-school gaming clubs to summer camps and from children’s parties to corporate teambuilding events’.
Engaged Gaming has transformed the former Stage Door building on North Silver Street into a gaming facility with 180sq ft of space.
Stewart Gibson, a spokesman for Engage Gaming, said: “I knew there was a market out there for a full-time venue that could cater for the hardcore gamers and still appeal to a more mainstream market. When we found the former Stage Door restaurant I knew it was an amazing space that could easily be converted.”
“We are looking forward to finally having a place where anyone with an interest in gaming can get together and play games, compete, or watch streamed tournaments.”
Matt Sandholm, Engage Gaming
Engage Gaming has gaming PCs, Xbox Ones and PS4s, as well as virtual reality gear. It also has a relaxation zone for customers, with a licensed bar and café, and of course plans to host local esports tournaments.
Ten jobs have been created and as many as 20 are expected within the coming months.
The gaming space has been custom-designed by award-winning local design teams, artists and GT Omega Racing, with top of the range gaming chairs and cockpits in the centre.
Matt Sandholm, digital marketing manager at Engage Gaming, said: “We are really excited about this venture and looking forward to finally having a place where anyone with an interest in gaming can get together and play games, compete, or watch streamed tournaments.
“It’s going to expand the gaming community in Aberdeen.”
Visit the Engage Gaming website for more info.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
