Northern Maine Community College is set to unveil its new esports gaming command center.

The gaming command center, home to the Falcons, will host an Open House on Friday, October 18, and begin recruitment for the upcoming season.

Esports is a rapidly growing field of competitive video gaming, including a spectrum from sports games to role-playing fantasy games. In the past decade, colleges have increasingly provided an avenue for these competitive players.

It's estimated that the global esports audience will reach 453.8 million this year and generate $1.1 billion in revenues, up 26% year over year. The world championship for League of Legends, a popular multiplayer fantasy, earned a higher total viewership than the Super Bowl—100 million unique views.

Chris Perry, the newly-established esports coordinator at NMCC, noted that competitive gaming is beginning to be taken very seriously. “We have students on campus and people in the County investing time in these games, and we’re trying to meet students where they are, find talent, and create an outlet for that passion while providing quality education.”

The first competitive season at NMCC will begin in January 2020, coinciding with the beginning of spring semester; however, recruitment begins October 18th at the annual Open House event.

The command center will be located off of the library, and will be equipped with five MSI Infinite X270 gaming machines, boasting Intel Core i9 9900K processors with GeForce RTX 2080 Ti graphics cards driving 27” MSI curved displays, accented RGB lighting and a 75’ Promethean active-panel display for streaming and strategic breakdowns.

The Open House will be held from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm on October 18. Visitors can see the command center, test the equipment, and try the games for themselves. The public is cordially invited to attend.

For more information about NMCC Falcon Esports visit nmcc.edu.

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