A new series of ‘Cooldown Stream’ gaming bar nights in the UK will allow fans to watch some of their favourite streamers live in-person.
The events are being launched by drink and brewing company AB InBev, which AB InBev owns the Cooldown platform and several beer brands like Budweiser and Corona.
Streamers featured at the events include UK content creators such as Call of Duty and London Royal Ravens streamer Jukeyz, who became a Red Bull athlete in 2021, and Miss Baffy, a League of Legends streamer who joined LDN UTD last year.
Jukeyz will host a Call of Duty League Major 4 viewing party at the Empire Casino in Leicester Square, London, this Sunday (July 17th 2022) from 5pm BST.
Jukeyz said: “I’m going to be hosting Mandown, a sick viewing party. I’m inviting all of London’s biggest Call of Duty fans to come down to the casino, chill with me and watch the finals on the big screen. I’ll be doing some giveaways with Cooldown and you already know some special drinks will be involved, so it’ll be a rowdy time.”
Fans can get a coupon to be entered into giveaways when signing up using the link at the bottom of this article.
And Miss Baffy will appear at Big Chill Kings Cross, which also hosts other esports nights, on July 31st 2022 from 2pm to 5pm BST, for a livestreaming session plus ‘special surprises’ for those who physically attend the event.
Miss Baffy said: “Me and other creators are going to have our own custom calendar on the website so you can register and sign up to watch our livestreams, come to the bar, have a drink and have a great time. There will also be some really fun surprises for my viewers who atttend one of my Cooldown streams at a Cooldown venue.”
Pickapixel was also listed on the Cooldown website earlier this week, but has another real life event which clashes with this, so could potentially appear at a different upcoming event.
Other esports and gaming events from Cooldown include an IEM Cologne grand finals watch party, Valorant Masters Stage 2 broadcast, Evo 2022 finals and CDL Champs finals among others.
Cooldown will also be hosting monthly giveaways for attendees.
“Some ‘Cooldown Stream’ events are our very unique take on the parasocial relationships that fans have with creators and the asymmetrical nature of live streamed content seen on platforms like Twitch.”
Kerry Waananen, AB InBev
Kerry Waananen from marketing firm Meta (not the Facebook company), and account manager for Meta’s client AB InBev, told Esports News UK: “Our first event is this Sunday, in which we’ll have Jukeyz, content creator for the London Royal Ravens and a Cooldown brand ambassador, attending our viewing party for the CDL Major 4 . This one is a bit unique since he’ll be physically attending the viewing party.
“Our other ‘Cooldown Stream’ events are our very unique take on the parasocial relationships that fans have with creators and the asymmetrical nature of live streamed content seen on platforms like Twitch.
“For ‘Cooldown Streams’, we’ll be piping the creator’s stream into one of our venues where fans will be able to go and watch. Because this content is being consumed outside of the house, it gives us the opportunity to facilitate interesting experiential content – such as the streamer giving away prizes or a free beer to Coolddown Stream attendees.”
Last year, Leeds-based Pixel Bar held a League of Legends competition in conjunction with Cooldown.
You can see the upcoming Cooldown events on its website here
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.
