A new company hoping to target gamers of all ages and families has set out an ambitious project.
Recently established firm Ultimo Hombre has announced the first in a series of live ‘casual esports’ events: Gamerdays takes place at PRYZM in Birmingham on Sunday October 22nd.
It has teamed up with The Deltic Group, the UK’s largest operator of late night bars and clubs, to host the events, and hopes to get 60 venues on board within 18 months.
“Play for fun or play to win; the favoured gamers of Birmingham will be the lucky first to experience Gamerdays, but Ultimo Hombre will soon spread throughout the UK, with dozens of venues coming online.”
The first event – Gamerdays in Birmingam – will feature two distinct sessions throughout the day. The earlier session from 10am to 4.30pm is about inclusion, where children, teenagers and families can try some casual gaming in the day and participate in a Last Man Standing contest.
Later in the day from 6pm to midnight, the second session accommodates over 18s, where cash prizes can be won and mature titles will be available to play, for example Call of Duty. For those who want to spectate, the action will be streamed on the in-house big screen TVs, while casual gamers can relax in the breakout rooms featuring a selection of retro gaming and VR experiences.
There will be commentary and guest appearances from ‘leading gaming personalities’. These include presenter Julia Hardy, comedian and games journalist Steve McNeil, comedy writer Lewis Hancox, presenter and writer Dan Bardell, and YouTuber Calfreezy.
The great @Calfreezy will be joining us on the 22nd! He’ll be signing and working meet and greets! Tickets – https://t.co/rhOYG9ZwHh pic.twitter.com/doN0Pnys2H
— Ultimo Hombre (@UltimoHombre00) October 12, 2017
Ultimo Hombre is billing itself as a ‘casual esports’ company that specialises in gaming events for everyone. It says it will operate weekly events that cater for an average of 6,000 visitors per venue over two sessions.
“Ultimo Hombre focuses not on the top 1% of esports players, but the 99% of esports fans. Its aim is to enable social play, skill growth and finding the next generation of esports personalities regionally, and on a national scale,” Ultimo Hombre said in a statement.
“Everyone can be a winner at an Ultimo Hombre Gamerdays event, finding a home amongst friends as you battle for supremacy on Call of Duty, score an injury time winner on Fifa 18 or Pro Evolution Soccer 2018, get down and dirty with DiRT 4 and rise to the top on some of the world’s most popular video games.
“Play for fun or play to win; the favoured gamers of Birmingham will be the lucky first to experience Gamerdays, but Ultimo Hombre will soon spread throughout the UK, with dozens of venues coming online, competing against each other in real time and streaming content around the locations to see just who has the necessary skills to beat the elite.”
“We’ve been working diligently behind the scenes to create a series of gaming events that are amongst the most ambitious, inclusive and entertaining ever staged in the UK.”
There’s no mention of what kind of cash prizes will be on offer.
“We’ve been working diligently behind the scenes to create a series of gaming events that are amongst the most ambitious, inclusive and entertaining ever staged in the UK, and we’re delighted to announce our launch venue, starting operation this October,” said Mark Adams, Ultimo Hombre CEO.
Tim Howard, Marketing Director for the Deltic Group, commented: “Our PRYZM location in Birmingham is one of our flagship locations, an ideal choice to lead the way, bringing gamers and families together and kicking off what we believe will prove to be a unique way to watch, play and experience the latest games.
“We can’t wait until multiple venues are battling each other live for bragging rights and are confident that gamers of all ages and abilities will be thrilled with the Ultimo Hombre events.”
To register or to take part in Ultimo Hombre events, visit www.ultimohombre.com
Related posts:
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.
