Dundee and Angus College has officially opened the doors to its new esports studios, with Scottish games industry leaders and educators at the launch.
The new esports and broadcasting facility, based at the college’s Gardyne Campus, is billed as ‘a first of its kind in Scotland’.
It features two industry standard tournament rooms, a broadcasting studio, commentators’ studio, and a recording booth, all equipped with games technology and equipment, including Top-Tec furniture.
The college hopes to give students a hands-on learning experience with the studio, as well as provide a venue to accommodate esports, gaming and creative technology organisations.
Chris van der Kuyl CBE, chairman of 4J Studios, officially opened the studios at a launch event last night.
Chris said: “The D&A esports studios stand as a testimony to the college’s commitment to not only providing students with the best hands-on learning experience in a unique environment, but an exceptional venue that can accommodate a wide range of esports, games and creative technology organisations.”
As part of the launch event, attendees had the opportunity to network and tour the facility, and witness live demonstrations from the first cohort of the Esports and Creative Industries Foundation Degree students.
Dundee and Angus College also have support from partners including Corsair, CDW, Ninja Kiwi and eRena esports, who ‘played a pivotal role in bringing this groundbreaking project to fruition’.
Simon Hewitt, Principal of Dundee and Angus College, said: “Following the successful launch of Dundee and Angus College’s Esports and Creative Industries Foundation degree earlier this year, I am thrilled to be able to unveil our new state-of-the-art esports facility at the Gardyne Campus. This launch marks an exciting milestone for both our college and the esports and gaming industry in Scotland.
“The cutting-edge technology and innovative spaces within this facility will not only transform how we approach esports education but also provide a platform for collaboration and advancement within the industry.”
Simon Hewitt, Dundee and Angus College
“We’re excited to see the incredible opportunities this space will offer our students, partners, and the gaming community as a whole.”
Lee Lappin, Director of Curriculum and Partnerships at Dundee and Angus College, added: “Being at the heart of D&A’s esports adventure makes our launch a particularly special occasion. I have had the privilege of working alongside Laura Louch (Project Leader) and James Oliver (Head of Computing) to engage industry, parents, teachers, government, peers, our future studnets and other educational partners.
“We have been keen to share our journey and celebrate what we have achieved with our community programme, Foundation Degree and bespoke esports studios. This is just part of the adventure, the next chapter awaits and I couldn’t be more excited.”
The news comes a week after Esports News UK and UKCSGO published a joint report on the separate Scottish Esports League 6 being delayed to 2024. Payments from Esports Scotland are still due for the November 2022 event, which took place at Dundee and Angus College’s Gardyne Theatre.
Dundee and Angus College previously had a partnership with Esports Scotland, though we understand this has now ended.
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.
