The SNHU ESports Arena is open to the public. It opened on October 8, delayed due to COVID-19, but it is now in full swing hosting ESports matches. It is located in the Green Center.
The arena is a community space on campus, made to support the Varsity ESports programs offered at SNHU as well as all other students on campus.
Tim Fowler, Director of ESports, said, “In it, we have 18 gaming PCs, 2 Xbox/PS5/Nintendo Switch stations, a production room, viewing area, and commentator desk.”
The computers in the arena come equipped with I9 CPUs, RTX 2080 graphics cards, 32 GB of RAM, Logitech Gaming peripherals, and 165 hz monitors. Most games are already installed on the machines and simply require students to make an account to use.
The arena is staffed by students primarily, with Fowler directing the program along with Robert Wiemer, Content Manager, and Sultan Akhter, Operations Manager.
The arena is open from noon to 5 pm on weekdays and 6 pm to 10 pm on Saturday nights. Students are welcome to go enjoy the hardware made available to them for free by the arena and are also welcome to cheer on their school’s teams.
SNHU hosts 5 varsity teams, totaling 40+ players all together. There are teams for “Valorant,” “Overwatch,” “League of Legends,” “Rocket League,” and “Super Smash Bros.” There are currently not any JV teams. Fowler said, “I would really love to see students get together and found an ESports club to coordinate practices, learn and get better at the games they love, and advocate for club teams similar to the club sports on campus.”
Matches are streamed on Twitch (SNHUesports) where they can be caught live. They are commentated and recorded by students.
“The Arena has been an extremely fun place to hang out, play games, watch competitive matches, or even just get some homework done in our viewing area. Our community has grown so much since we’ve opened the doors to the space, and I really encourage everyone to come by and check it out!” said Fowler.
To find out more about the ESports Arena, students can visit in person, follow the ESports Twitter @esportssnhu, or join the SNHU ESports Discord at https://discord.gg/snhuesports.
