Riot Esports has teamsed up with NUEL parents company GGTech Entertainment to boost its North American university competitions in League of Legends and Valorant.
Tournament organiser and services provider GGTech and game publisher Riot have signed the partnership in a bid to boost collegiate esports in North America.
GGTech will produce and market Riot’s two major college competitions in the US (College League of Legends and College
Valorant), and strengthen its college club programme.
With a global reach spanning 25 countries across four continents, GGTech Entertainment brings its expertise to the table. Among its prominent competitions is University Esports, attracting participation from over 100,000 students representing more than 1,500 universities.
In the UK, GGTech develops Amazon University Esports, in which more than 5,000 players from over 100 universities took part throughout the Spring term. This culminated in the spring finals at Confetti X in Nottingham.
Then, Europe-wide there’s the Amazon University Esports Masters 2023, whose finals took place in Nottingham recently, featuring the top student teams from across Europe.
GGTech recently announced the acquisition of NUEL, the long-running UK-based grassroots esports tournament and community organiser.
New GGTech and Riot US deal extends existing partnership
GGTech and Riot Esports have been working together for a number of years on various competitions in EMEA and Latin America.
In a press release, GGTech said it will bring its global collegiate experience to help build on the success of the existing programmes. To this end, it will work closely with the RSAA (Riot Scholastic Association of America), the Riot Esports’ entity charged with governing collegiate competitions and fostering the development of gaming as a meaningful and complementary part of the high school and college experiences.
This move into the US market, coupled with GGTech’s global reach, represents a significant stride towards promoting worldwide competition, providing comprehensive support, and ensuring increased visibility for all territories, including EMEA.
“As we add more games and continue to grow our offerings, we wanted a partnership where we could bring the whole program under one roof,” said J.T. Vandenbree, Head of the RSAA.
“We are looking forward to levelling up our game and building more collaboration with students and schools of all sizes, investments, and solo queue ranks.”
Josh Williams, Global Director of University Esports at GGTech Entertainment, and NUEL’s original founder, said: “We’re delighted to be working with RSAA to help build on the success of Riot’s college programs. We want to use our decade of global experience in collegiate esports and work with the community to create new and exciting experiences for all
college students in North America.”
José Parrilla, Global CEO of GGtech, commented: “We are extremely proud to be partnering with Riot Esports. The recently signed agreement represents a significant turning point for us. Entering the esports ecosystem in the United States, where nearly half of the population plays video games on a regular basis, is a tremendous opportunity for GGTech and our team to further expand in one of the largest markets in the world.
“We want to bring our expertise and passion for creating innovative businesses to the university environment. This venture is an exciting project that we will approach with the utmost dedication and professionalism.”
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.
