First North American eSports Arena Announced

eSports Arena announced it will be building North America’s first dedicated eSports arena facility in Orange County, California.  The arena will host daily events, tournaments and leagues, game launches and premiers, as well as onsite retail products for popular game titles.  This exciting news is revolutionary for the budding industry of eSports, the industry of competitive video game tournaments for a multitude of game titles such as StarCraft and League of Legends.  While dedicated eSports stadiums are more common place in Korea, competitions and tournament held in North America have been making due with makeshift convention space.

But not anymore.

The new eSports Arena will be an astounding 13,500 square feet facility and is planned to be located conveniently in downtown Orange County, California.  “eSports Arena is what we wished we had while in high school and college,” said co-founder and COO Tyler Endres. “There’s nothing better than live competition and interaction.”   The expected design of the facility isn’t likely to disappoint either.  The facility is expected to offer the following:

1000 square foot stage
PC’s and consoles for open bracket events
Fiber-optic internet
Full audio and lighting
Broadcast quality multi-camera equipment
Casting areas
Retail/Branding space

eSports Arena May Just be the Beginning

While the prospect of a dedicated eSports arena may be pioneering to the North American eSports industry, it’s nothing new to the bustling city of Seoul, South Korea, where the first eSports arena was opened in December 2005.  North America has been more hesitant in accepting eSports to a status level of more conventional sporting events when compared to South Korea, where there are 23 officially recognized eSports with approximately 400 pro-gamers actively participating.  However, while South Korea may claim fame to housing dedicated eSports arenas, it was actually a California-based event that shattered attendance records for the largest crowd at an eSports event.  The three-day Major League Gaming Championshipin Anaheim last June 2013 drew in an amazing 21,000 attendees, despite the event’s late announcement.

The professional eSports scene is still infantile at best, but a budding industry nonetheless, and has been officially recognized as a sport in North America.  Crowds from all across the globe flock to conventions centers and arenas to catch a glimpse of the impressive tournaments.  Though slow in acceptance by popular masses as a celebrity status, perhaps it’s not farfetched to predict e-athletes will soon be portrayed in an idolized fashion like other popular sports athletes.

For more information about the upcoming eSports arena, visit: esportsarena.com