The prospect of ‘gaming on the move’ is to move a step closer when 5G is used for Scotland’s Esports grand finals in Dundee next month.
Scotland’s top Esports stars are gearing up to compete for a £10,000 prize pot in the free-to-attend event at Dundee Contemporary Arts between November 18 and 21.
It is the showpiece event for the Scottish Esports League Season 4 (SEL4), the nation’s largest competitive gaming competition.
Competitors will get a chance to game via Dundee City Council’s private 5G network.
This will offer a glimpse into the future when gaming on the move will start to become a reality, allowing laptop and mobile device users to compete against each other while out and about.
Call of Duty competition
The event is one of a series of trials in the Tay Cities Region Deal 5G project and is being supported as part of a £2m investment by the Scottish Government.
The 5G technology will support a live video broadcast powered by Dundee City Council’s 5G testbed in collaboration with Scottish Futures Trust and Abertay University.
The SEL4 online group stage began on September 27, with 44 teams contesting the 10 sought-after spots at the finals which will be competed across five gaming titles: Rocket League, Counter Strike Global Offensive, Rainbow Six Siege, League of Legends and Valorant.
Esports Scotland has also agreed with American video game developer Blizzard to run the ‘Call of Duty Esports Scotland Cup’, a standalone PC tournament played on controller which is scheduled to be held on the opening day of the grand finals.
Job opportunities
A specifically designed ‘skills showcase’ section of the venue will also highlight career prospects in the multi-billion-pound industry.
The SEL4 finals will help build the profile of Dundee’s Esports scene while plans to open Scotland’s first bespoke arena in the area are scoped by events company Northern Lights Arena Europe (NLAE).
Scheduled to open in 2024, the 4,000-capacity venue aims to become the world’s best streaming venue.
Free tickets for the SEL4 finals in Dundee are available here.
‘Massive opportunity for Dundee’
One of the event’s partners is Abertay University, the first British university to offer a degree in gaming and Europe’s top ranked institution for games education.
Professor Gregor White, Dean of the university’s school of design and informatics, said: “Esports represent a massive opportunity for Dundee and Scotland and we are hugely excited to be bringing our academic expertise in video games education to this important sector, and to be partners in the Dundee Esports Arena project.
“Our plans to offer new programmes and qualifications linked to Esports are progressing well and we are confident that the success currently enjoyed by our games design graduates can be replicated as the industry continues to grow.”
