Update (January 2022): Revolution Esports has now dissolved and has shut down as a company, as can be seen on Companies House.
Original article (March 2021):
UK-based agency Revolution Esports is planning to open five different esports hubs across the UK.
The hubs will focus on education and training in areas such as gaming and technology, as well as hosting esports tournaments, developing grassroots talent and providing a space for gamers to play casually.
Revolution has announced its latest hub in partnership with Alice House Hospice in Hartlepool. Hospice CEO Tracy Woodall wanted to find new ways of fundraising to engage with a new audience, particularly focusing on young people who might typically have less experience of hospice care.
Tracy and her team are preparing to open NEVRlabs (North East Virtual Reality Labs), a new virtual reality technology centre which will be ready for business this spring.
NEVRlabs will use gaming and virtual reality to support mental and physical health and social inclusion through tech clubs and local esports team development.
The centre will provide gaming experiences and parties with ‘state of the art’ equipment with all profits going towards funding the care provided by Alice House.
This is Revolution’s second hub and follows the news earlier this year about its social media partnership with Social Chain.
Revolution Esports has struck a three-year deal with Social Chain, whose gaming brand is GameByte. Social Chain will host one of the five UK esports hubs where Revolution talent can compete and train, and this one will be based in Manchester.
In addition to hosting and training talent, as part of the hub network, Social Chain and GameByte will be able to provide promising esports players with a platform to bolster their online presence through GameByte’s own digital channels.
GameByte has an audience of more than 6.5m gamers across social media.
As well as the five UK esports hubs – which Revolution Esports hopes to open as soon as government restrictions lift – Revolution also aims to branch out into Europe in 2022.
Lastly, Revolution Esports has also announced a three-year partnership with The Music Elk.
Their aim is to showcase new music talent through esports and create an esports music label.
Their first project will see them team up for the campaign titled ‘We’re on the hunt’, where Revolution Esports will be seeking the best and brightest talent across Europe. Collectively they will produce music specifically for content, brand activations, partners and helping new and upcoming artists have a platform to broadcast their music.
Adam Johnson, founder at Revolution Esports said “One of our key aims in our organisation was to introduce more of a natural blend between esports, gaming and music. The partnership with The Music Elk enables us to achieve exactly that.
“Together we will announce the first esports music label working with artists directly and having specific music created for events, content, streamers and activations. Exciting times ahead and a huge step forward for the Revolution Esports brand and partners alike”.
Earlier this year, Revolution Esports and SAF Global Gaming partnered to develop UK FIFA esports talent.
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.
