St Mary’s Opens State-of-the-Art E-Sports Arena

St Mary’s University, Twickenham (SMU) has opened its E-Sports Arena, a state-of-the-art facility designed to fully immerse students and professionals in the world of gaming, training, and research.

The E-Sports Arena will be used by students and staff at SMU for events, tournaments, and educational experiences such as e-sports competitions, game development workshops, and high data processing. The arena is also available for external event hire.

Using the latest cutting-edge technology, the E-Sports Arena is equipped with sixty high-performance gaming machines, each paired with professional gaming chairs, desks, headsets, and high-quality gaming peripherals.

Alongside the gaming machines, the arena features pixel lighting on the ceiling, walls, and stage to create an energetic and visually captivating atmosphere, enhanced by spotlighting for stage performances. The 217-inch LED video wall provides a central display that brings the gaming action to life, perfect for spectators and event broadcasts.

Computer Science students at St Mary’s will regularly be using the E-Sports Arena for teaching, with the arena equipped with a full audio-visual setup that is ideal for lectures and classes.

Speaking on the opening of the E-Sports Arena Interim Provost and Chief Academic Officer at SMU Prof Sara Spear said, “We’re thrilled to open the E-Sports Arena, which will provide our students with some of the most cutting-edge computer science facilities in the country. It was wonderful to see great excitement from students and staff at the arena launch event on Thursday, and I’m looking forward to seeing more students use the space in the coming academic year.”

The arena setup is optimised for both individual play and collaborative experiences, making it perfect for:

• E-sports events: Host or participate in the latest competitive gaming tournaments

• Hackathons and game jams: Collaborate on intensive coding and game development projects

• Training and boot camps: Enhance your skills with focused training sessions led by experts

• Master classes and guest speakers: Gain insights from industry leaders and gaming professionals

• Research and development: Utilise our cutting-edge technology to explore new frontiers in gaming and computer science.

Find out more about the E-Sport Arena and its full technical specifications on the St Mary’s website.

Watch the E-Sports Arena launch video on YouTube, and find the full gallery of images from the launch event here.