Together with our esports partners, NUEL and GGTech Entertainment, we were delighted to bring the live finals of the Amazon UNIVERSITY Esports Masters (AUEM) tournament to our Confetti X venue in Nottingham.
The AUEM finals is the conclusion of an academic year in which over 10,000 players from over 1,000 universities in 21 countries competed to make it to this final stage of the competition. The event took place in-person with a live audience on Saturday 8 July at our esports complex, Confetti X. It was also broadcast live on Twitch to thousands of people across the world.
The event was a great ‘Do It For Real’ opportunity for our Confetti students. Our BSc (Hons) Event Production students lent their expertise to the live event, including lighting, sound, video installation and design, whilst our BSc (Hons) Esports Production students manned key production roles within the gallery, including vision mixing, audio mixing and observing.
We managed to catch-up with a few of our undergraduate Esports Production students, who took part in running the event. Here is what they had to say about their experience:
“Being a student at Confetti, I like to get involved in as many events as possible, particularly for the opportunity to in-game direct. I love working with people here and I’ve really enjoyed being an observer as well. It’s been great working an event like AUEM, lots of prep has gone into it and it’s gone really smoothly so far.” – Tom Parfett, 1st year BSc (Hons) Esports Production
“I’m an esports production student here, esports is my big interest, mainly the broadcast side of it. I was hired by the University tech team to observe, which has given me a chance to get some experience, job opportunities and a chance to network. It’s been great, getting to know people, both old and new faces, and seeing all the students taking part, both competitors and organisers.” – Joe Bone, 1st year BSc (Hons) Esports Production
Audience members enjoyed a spectacular day of competitive video gaming. In addition to hosting the top university teams in Europe, we also set up a casual gaming area in our Confetti X social space for attendees to enjoy, as well as organised activities with esports-related giveaways.
“We’ve been really looking forward to seeing the grand finals. So far, it’s been good – the gaming setups upstairs have also been great. We came here mostly for our kids who love it here, and we didn’t have to travel far. I’m very impressed with the facilities, I haven’t seen much of esports but what is here is amazing.” – NTU Senior Lecturer, Eshan Asnaashari
The top university esports teams in Europe competed in League of Legends, VALORANT and Rocket League, with the winners crowned this season’s European University Champions. They also took home a slice of the €21,500 prize pool!
Among those represented was one of the largest higher education establishments in the Netherlands, the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, a top public university in Germany, RWTH Aachen University, and an internationally renowned research institute, the University of Göttingen in Germany. Dutch gamer Jelte Groothuis was one of the talented players who competed in the final. He was impressed by the “high-tech” equipment available for young people interested in Esports Production in England compared to his hometown in the Netherlands. He claimed:
“The esports uni scene in England is way bigger, whereas, in the Netherlands it is hard to find places to play”
With the event previously being held in locations such as Tenerife and Alicante, we are proud to be the first venue in the UK to host the Amazon UNIVERISTY Esports Masters Event. The event provided our students with a huge opportunity to put their skills into practice working alongside professionals, as well as showcasing our advanced production facilities at Confetti X. We spoke to managing director at NUEL, David Jackson, who revealed more about the experience our students gain from this collaboration:
“We are a real client…and we are one that has a real passion in supporting the students and people can make mistakes with us, that’s what it’s all about…So we are facilitating that progression, we are providing opportunities in a safe environment, supported by staff, where students can do real work for a real commercial partner.”
He explained:
“Having a building and a bunch of expensive kit is one thing, but actually having the students, supported by the staff, to deliver these sorts of events is what really makes a lot of these things happen.”
Check out some great photos taken at the event and relive the excitement:
We look forward to hosting lots more Amazon UNIVERSITY Esports events this year, with more great opportunities for students to ‘Do It For Real’.
