The National Esports Performance Campus opened its doors for the Sunderland Echo to have a preview of its state-of-the-art facilities.
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00:00 I couldn't have a look at the Esports National Performance Campus here in Sunderland before it officially opened.
00:07 Okay then Ches, just to ask what the NEPC is all about and what the students will be studying and doing here.
00:13 Yes, so within Sunderland we've launched the National Esports Performance Campus, the NEPC, and we've got two sites.
00:19 This is the first site, so it's the place which we're standing in now, which is a mixture of classrooms, which has got PCs and a chalk and talk,
00:26 and then we've got a number of boot camp rooms which we're standing in now, and I'll explain what a boot camp room is in a second.
00:31 And then we've got three gaming houses as well for teams and people to stay.
00:35 And then we're opening by the Stadium of Light another part of the National Esports Performance Campus called the Arena, which we open Q1 next year.
00:42 So this boot camp room is for teams to practice, so that could be Sunderland College, it could be universities, it could be our national team
00:48 when we go to compete in the Commonwealth Esports Championships or the Olympic Esports Week or in December we've got the Global Esports Games.
00:55 So a boot camp room is for players and teams to come and train, they analyse their work, and this is the set up.
01:02 We're very lucky to have Dell, Intel and Alienware as our partners, and these rooms can be rented for a day or for a week and they'll be used by the college.
01:10 But what we're also doing is teaching educational courses here.
01:13 So Sunderland College are studying a BTEC in Esports, which is delivered by Pearson and they've got teachers here.
01:20 So we're really great, so this is a kind of education campus and a performance campus.
01:25 And just how big are Esports at the moment in this country?
01:28 So the video game industry is huge, it's 150 billion and then Esports is about 2% at the moment.
01:36 There's 40 different Esports titles and depending on the country you have different specialties.
01:41 So in the UK we're very popular, games like League of Legends, 120 million play globally, Rocket League,
01:47 and then there's games, more adult games like Call of Duty.
01:50 So it's a big industry, but where England excels is around Esports production, Esports business,
01:57 and things like shoutcasting, which is the live punditry type thing.
02:00 So the whole purpose of this facility is to help teach and deliver digital skills for future careers,
02:07 and we're really excited to be in Sunderland.
02:09 So will students learn things about the business, the industry and also how to create their own games as well?
02:13 Yes, and less so on the games, more about being an entrepreneur, being a business person, marketing,
02:18 so we kind of teach them the skills that they can kind of develop their own businesses,
02:22 but also work for other companies.
02:24 And it might not be in the Esports industry, it might not be in the video games industry,
02:27 but we're using the passion of Esports to use that as a hook for them to learn these essential skills for future careers.
02:34 [Typing]
02:53 Okay then, Damon, please talk me through on the station and see what the students use.
02:56 Yes, so all the students will be using the Alienware Aurora R15.
03:00 What this comes kitted with is a nice i7, it's a 13th gen CPU with a RTX 4080 graphics card, top spec.
03:10 It comes kitted with 16GB of RAM as well, so it gives them no compromise when it comes to their gaming needs,
03:16 giving them that sort of competitive edge.
03:18 It's coupled with the Alienware monitors that are 360Hz, which gives them an extremely smooth motion picture,
03:25 giving them that really competitive edge when it comes to Esports.
03:29 They're also on top of disks that are fully adjustable, so if anybody has any sort of custom height they need to set it to,
03:38 they've got a comfortable setup, they can do that on the fly.
03:42 Coupled with the Secret Laboratory Titan Evo chairs, which really do give you that extra lumber support,
03:49 especially when you're gaming, it can get really intense.
03:52 You're always going to have plenty of support as you're playing your video games, keeping you at the edge of your game basically.
03:59 So yes, put it this way, the students will all have their competitive edge,
04:03 there is no sort of compromise when it comes to these systems by Dell Alienware.
04:09 In terms of the cost of each station, I mean how much is invested in each station, you can sort of figure?
04:15 I couldn't tell off the top of my head when it comes to the cost.
04:18 You're talking thousands, yeah?
04:23 Yeah, you're talking thousands easily for the full setup, for the full kit.
04:27 Well Caden, shall we start by asking a bit about the Sears room and how it's used by the students?
04:32 Well this fantastic room here is equipped with industry standard PCs that our students compete with.
04:39 So we have our Sunderland student chams called Sunderland Sears, they come in here, they train in here,
04:44 and they participate in the weekly competitions here as well.
04:48 And just how impressed are your facilities here at the campus?
04:51 Well they're outstanding, and for a city like Sunderland to have this much investment in,
04:55 in an industry that's really up and coming and growing, it's phenomenal.
04:59 And our students really do appreciate how lucky they are.
05:02 And what sort of things will the students learn at this campus?
05:05 So they will learn, I know people think it's gaming, but it's not just gaming.
05:08 So they will learn marketing, they will learn branding, they will learn creative media,
05:12 sport, sport psychology. This really does give a well-rounded young person
05:17 who wants to move on into any industry the skills needed.
05:20 needed.