University of Wolverhampton and Wolves Esports to host city’s first live esports event as new £5m Screen School launches

The University of Wolverhampton and Wolves Esports are teaming up to host the first ever live esports event in the city, as part of the launch of the university’s new £5m Screen School.

Professional racing drivers from Wolves Esports will be competing on the Monza track in Italy in the first race of a five-race series.

The action will take place in the Arena Theatre on September 25th 2021, where attendees will see all the action live on the big screen, meet Wolverhampton Screen School staff and students and take part in interactive activities as a taster ahead of the opening of the university’s new facilities this year.

Wolves Esports was established in 2018 and now boasts teams in the UK, Europe, North America and China, with more than 3m social followers. The team competes in titles including FIFA, Rocket League, Call of Duty, Identity V, Honor of Kings, Formula Pro and LeMans Virtual.

Wolves become first football club to participate in the Honor of Kings Pro League

The new £5 million Wolverhampton Screen School (see an artist’s impression, above) has been transformed to ‘create state-of-the-art teaching facilities and equipment, with the aim to boost skills in the digital arts and media industries’.

The core courses taught at the Wolverhampton Screen School will be animation, computer games design, film and television production, multimedia journalism, computer science, cyber psychology alongside proposals for a new course in visual effects.

Tim Steele, pro vice chancellor of international at the University of Wolverhampton, said: “We are so excited to welcome visitors to our brand-new Screen School in support of this fantastic global event as we work in partnership with Wolves Esports.

“We are always proud to support our local team – especially when they’re competing internationally and putting Wolverhampton on the map. And we hope that this will be the first of a number of high profile events as we look to establish the City of Wolverhampton as a key destination in the developing esports arena.

“We have invested £5m in new technology and facilities for our brand-new Screen School to ensure our students, staff and the Wolverhampton community have access to the best teaching and learning opportunities available in a fast-moving field. We hope visitors enjoy their exclusive insight to our new facility while enjoying the action on the big screen.”

Russell Jones, general manager of marketing and commercial growth at Wolves, added: “We are delighted to be partnering with the University of Wolverhampton to host the first ever live esports event in the city.  The is a big deal for the city and with the launch of the Screen School showcases the University as a progressive leader in digital education.

“The event on Saturday September 25th will be a fantastic opportunity for anyone interested in esports and/or digital production to come along and witness the behind-the-scenes working of a professional esports team competing at a global event.

“This is just race one of a five race series, and we are hopeful that there will be opportunities for talented students to get involved on the production side as we progress through the series.”

In other sim racing and Wolves Esports news, sim racing driver Chris McDade from UK org Vexed Gaming has been officially loaned to Wolves.GR for the upcoming $250,000 Le Mans Virtual Series.

He will be racing alongside four drivers under Wolves.GR and going up against the likes of Porsche, Redbull, Williams, BMW, Ford and others. The Le Mans Virtual Series consists of five rounds, four of which are online, with the grand final taking place at the Autosport Show International at the Birmingham NEC on January 15th and 16th.

In July 2021, Wolves parent company Fosun Sports announced its investment in Evil Geniuses, bringing the North American org and Wolves together.

If you have an interest in digital production and/or esports, you can book tickets for this free event here: www.wlv.ac.uk/arena-theatre

Dom is an award-winning writer who graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.

As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV as well as Riot Games and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Association up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and as an esports consultant helping brands and businesses better understand the industry.

Source: https://esports-news.co.uk/2021/09/20/university-wolverhampton-wolves-first-live-esports-event-screen-school/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=university-wolverhampton-wolves-first-live-esports-event-screen-school