5 Things to Consider When Building or Designing Your Esports Arena

According to research done by Newzoo, projections put the esports market on track to surpass $1B in revenue in 2020 with expectations for even further growth within the next 3 years. According to the same research, global spectators of esports are estimated to grow by 24% within the same period.

While the impacts of COVID-19 have weighed heavily on events and entertainment, the number of venues and arenas being built or renovated to support the burgeoning esports industry is increasing to meet demands. As the industry continues to grow, here are five things organizations should consider when building, designing, or retrofitting their dedicated esports space:

1. Design and layout of space

Gaining a clear understanding of how your space will look before you start investing is one of the more important steps when designing a space. To do this, work directly with a manufacturer, architect, or design partner to have your facility designed in a 3D Revit modeling visualization tool.

Not only does this help you visualize the fan experience and layout of the space, but it will allow your investors and donors to do the same. When having your space designed in Revit, you will see what is possible for the facility and layouts your space can handle. By understanding the layout of the space and the options available, you can start to plan the types of events you can hold within the facility to generate revenue.

Whether it is the number of the seats, the layout, style of the space or the brand experience you want to present, ensuring you have the resources available to visualize your concept before it is reality is vital before heavily investing in your project.

2. Flexibility with your esports venue

Flexible configurations of your esports venue are key to maximizing your investment throughout its lifespan. With flexible configurations you can host a variety of events – all while providing premium sightlines to everyone.

The best way to ensure this is by using flexible seating solutions for your spectators. By using telescopic seating, recessed bleachers, portable seating, motorized bleachers, or other alternatives to fixed seating options, you can maximize the configuration of your venue to ensure there’s “not a bad seat in the house” while you host a variety of events.

While there are many spectator seating options, the more versatile the seating the better so you can fully optimize the configuration of your space, while providing comfort to the spectators in a variety of fashions.

3. Quality of the products within your esports facility

With the high traffic of spectators and competitors coming and going, having higher quality equipment – with warranties for your electronic equipment, spectator seats, and furniture – is an absolute must. Quality tends to guarantee a better lifespan for the product and lowers your lifetime costs. The added protection of warranties nearly ensures less of a headache when it comes to service and repairs.

4. Quality of the service on the products within your facility

When it comes to finding the right products and services for your venue, consult with the experts and find someone who can service your bleachers or fixed seating locally. When working with someone who knows the industry the process typically goes much smoother. Having local support provides timely answers to your questions and solutions to your problems. Experts are also aware of higher quality products that have longevity and how to service them. As you look for quality products for your venue, as a reminder, be sure to select a high-quality product mix with supportive warranties, and easy to service parts - your local experts can recommend manufacturers who can fit those requirements for you.

5. Your customers

Whether it is a local esports competition or a larger tournament, comfortable seating arrangements for all spectators with optimal views of the stage are vital for a premium fan experience. Regardless of what seating solutions you have chosen for both spectators or competitors, comfort and sightlines are crucial.

Outside of comfortable seating, for esports it is important to not only have space where spectators can sit and watch the players compete, but also where they themselves can engage in activities outside of the main competition. By having a space where spectators can socialize and they themselves participate in gaming, network with others, or stop at a kiosk/venue; you will keep them engaged with what is going on during the competitions within your facility.

Since esports is in a market where the games are typically live streamed through providers like Twitch (Amazon), YouTube (Google) and Mixer (Microsoft) it is incredibly important to keep spectators entertained in a variety of ways and comfortable in the seats they will be watching from – and as they do, Hussey Seating Company is here to help with any esports seating needs.