Nottingham hosts the Commonwealth Games Esports Qualifiers at Confetti X

Confetti X is the brand new Esports venue in the heart of Nottingham City Centre. Bringing together years of expertise in live events, content creation, streaming and competitive gaming, the 14,000 sqft complex will host professional esports tournaments and events as well as coaching and training for teams.

The venue also complements the wider educational portfolio of Confetti Institute for Creative Technologies and Trent University and their do it for real ethos, as students can now get hands on experience for their Esports Degree and College modules, such as Esports Production. Confetti is the first educational establishment in the UK to offer Esports Production qualifications at both college and degree levels.

The venue is already starting to attract students and investment into Nottingham, which we had he chance to see in person at a taster event for the Commonwealth Esports Championships Qualifying Tournaments. In Nottingham from 1^st – 5^th of August 2022, the Qualifiers brought international teams to the city, including teams from India and Australia.

Although the Championships moved to Birmingham for the finals, this is no doubt just the beginning for this state-of-the-art venue.

We got to speak to a representative from Indian Esports, an acclaimed NI Esports athlete, and a student from Nottingham Trent University about this new venue, and what this event means for Nottingham and the burgeoning Esports Industry.

Interview 1: Emzy Rose, women’s entrant for E-football, representing Northern Ireland.

Can you share any thoughts you have about this new venue, Confetti X, in the UK? What does it mean for British Esports that venues like this are popping up in the UK?

Yeah, there needs to be more. There’s nothing like this in Northern Ireland, I can tell you that for sure. We’re more than happy to come over, I mean, look at this place – it’s insane! And if there’s more places like this, [Esports] is only going to get bigger and better. If you play in an arena like this or go on to play in a bigger area, then sign me up.

Have you been to Nottingham before regarding the Esports industry?

No, this is my first tournament.

What is your first impression of Nottingham?

It’s pretty cool, yeah, I’ve been in Nottingham before with my band, Paper Tigers, on tour last summer, as we toured all through England.

How did you get into Esports?

I’ve always been a gamer, and I’ve gamed since I was old enough to hold a controller. I kind of used it as an escape from depression and things like that, as I could play the game rather than deal with the real world. And once I came out as trans, it just opened a whole new world, and one day I saw an ad on Instagram calling for girl gamers from Northern Ireland. Honestly, until we went to get our headshots done, I was like ‘I don’t know about this’!

Are there any other big locations in the UK for Esports?

Birmingham for the ICC, but I don’t think there is… or, not that I know of. I’m still quite new into the Esports world, but personally I want to see us in Wembley. Wembley put on shows, they put on gigs, they obviously put on football finals. We need an Esports final at Wembley, that would be phenomenal. Playing in front of a crowd will be a different experience altogether. When you look outside of the UK into Europe, it’s huge. With Rocket League and E-football, it’s already massive outside o the UK. We need to catch up. But we’re getting the infrastructure, and we definitely have the player base, so it’s just getting the word out.

Are you now off to Birmingham now?

Yes, I play on Sunday for the Gold, as I’m the first finalist to qualify.

The first finalist to qualify in the whole games?

Yes! Guaranteed Silver – if I lose, I get Silver.

Congratulations, that’s amazing. But don’t be disappointed

Even if we went home with nothing, if somebody else applies for our team and we get more people applying from Northern Ireland, my job is done.

Interview 2: Rahul Sinul, Student at Nottingham Trent University, working at Confetti X while studying Esports Production.

We are hoping to pick your brains about what you think the significance of a venue like this is, and what it means for Nottingham.

This building is a big thing, because this is the first building in the UK, I believe, that’s just Esports orientated. It’s meant to be for the University and external events. I feel like this is a big start of a new era for Esports, and Universities partnering with British Esports and other companies… I feel like this could start something new. And with Confetti having an Esports Production course, this gives more opportunities to give people new job roles, get into the industry, and start new things.

Are you originally from Nottingham?

No, I have been here for one year. I moved up from London.

Why did you choose Nottingham?

Because of the Esports course! I had been following Esports for a few years, well, really my whole life! And so I wanted to work in Esports or try to get something in the industry. I found this course quite late into clearing, and it’s been amazing ever since. The opportunities they have been able to give me have been way better than what I would’ve been able to do myself.

In terms of your education, what would you say are the benefits of this new space?

This being linked to Confetti is a big thing. Confetti teaches the skills we need, and they have the technology for it, but now this lets you run events in a large venue. They let us pitch our own events and give us opportunities to run our own stuff. It also gives us opportunities to learn with companies like British Esports.

Being new to Nottingham, what do you think of the City?

A lot of University students! But I assume that’s because of both Universities being next to each other and partying every night. Not my type of wild - I like walking around, as the wildlife is nice. I still need to explore some sights.

What advice would you give students coming to Nottingham next year?

Go clubbing! PRYZM, probably, is the best.

Interview 3: Yash Bhalawala, Manager of the Indian Esports Team and Assistant Manager at Sports Authority of India

Can you tell us a little bit about your experience here today at Confetti X, the newest Esports venue in Nottingham? What do you think?

I would like to start by saying we landed here in Nottingham on August 1^st, and we got to have a practice session in the main Confetti building and campus. After looking at that campus, it was mind boggling looking at the infrastructure and see what Esports is doing in Nottingham. I was just talking to Gin, Esports Manger at Confetti, and he told me they are even planning a second venue, a mobile gaming venue.

Since I came to Confetti X, I’ve been surprised to see this much development work in the Esports sector in Nottingham, and in England. Back in India, there is no such infrastructure created. Looking at this, there is opportunity. And I am envisaging how things will grow if we do something like this [in India]. So, this event is a really great opportunity for having exposure for this venue as well.

I’ve seen the seats, also, and one thing you ought to know about the seats is that they are for participants, not just the audience. One hundred players can all participate just by sitting here on mobiles. That’s amazing, and really out of the box thinking. Nobody is thinking like this.

Is this your first time in Nottingham?

This is my first time in England! It’s the teams’ first time in England, too, so they’re very enthusiastic about playing. We have two teams with us - one is DOTA 2, and one is Rocket League Football. Our Rocket League Team played really well, but didn’t qualify for the group stages. But our DOTA team are now in the semis, and we are playing against Malaysia. If we win, we have the finals in Birmingham, and if we don’t win, we have a Bronze medal match in Birmingham – so, either way we are playing in Birmingham.

That’s amazing, you must be really proud of your team.

Yeah! So we landed for the first time and did a lot of good things here. After beating two/three teams in multiple rounds of events, we’ve qualified for the semis, which is a big achievement for Indian Esports.

It must be a great opportunity to represent Indian Esports on an international stage at the Commonwealth Games

It has to be! Coming from a 1.3B nation, if you are the top five guys, and if you are at the top of your nation, you have to perform well. Since they are the best and they have qualified for the semis, it’s really good and we appreciate the hard work of our athletes.

Have you had a lot of time to explore Nottingham?

So far we haven’t done a lot of tourist things as we have been focused on the game, but maybe today or tomorrow after the matches, we can do something. We have three days so we will definitely look into it.

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These interviews and this blog was written by Katherine Taylor, Marketing Executive for Visit Nottinghamshire.