Dear Guild Member,

Welcome to the fourth edition of our monthly newsletter!

The 2024/25 Winter Series has been well and truly underway, with our LAN finals on the way for the weekend of 6-8 December, we hope you can join us.

As for the rest of this newsletter, we’ve put together some industry news, some gaming news, and a long, interesting (if we do say so ourselves) interview with Mitch “MitchMan” McBride, now available on our Spotify Podcasts and Apple Podcasts.

As always, keep an eye on alumni.irelandcollegiate.com.

Industry News 🗞️

• G2 pulls out of Rocket League: Rocket League is one of the pillars of esports that most people think of alongside titles like League of Legends, Counter-Strike, and Valorant. One of the biggest orgs has just pulled out though, which has people questioning the future of the esport.

• Gaming is getting people active: If you grew up being told to get off your games and go outside, turns out games may have actually been a great way to have got you outside, anyway. The Gaming & The Future of Sports Fandom report, conducted by Savanta and commissioned by games studio The Gang, found that a lot of people got involved with sports because of gaming. Give it a read!

• London embraces the pinnacle of esports: on 2 Nov Riot Games held their League of Legends 2024 World Championship Grand Final in London’s O2 Arena. With an expected £12m economic impact locally, this was the most watched esports event ever with 6.9 peak viewers. All broadcasted out of Dublin.

Ireland Collegiate Leisure Items 🛒

We had these in the last newsletter, but we need to show them off again. Seriously, take a look!

From Zelda & Frostpunk to EA football – new video games reviewed

After millions of years, dinosaurs are once again appearing across the world, thanks to an ambitious debut from one Northern Irish game studio.

Set in a world of prehistoric animals, Amber Isle is a wonderfully cosy social sim game where you restore a near-extinct village back to life. Prepare to fall in love with dinosaurs all over again...

Barry O’Rourke is an Irish journalist who covers the video games industry for RTÉ, Ireland’s Public Service Broadcaster.

24/25 Winter Semester Finals Tickets ☘️

You heard it here first, tickets for both days of the Ireland Esports Collegiate Series Winter Semester Finals Weekend on Saturday 7, and Sunday 8 December are now available to buy.

🗓️ Dates: Friday 6 - Sunday 7 December

📍 Location: Dogpatch Labs, Dublin (directions here)

🎟️ Tickets: Buy now, 24/7 online, prices just €10 (plus a booking fee)

🗓️ Schedule:

This current series is all about building on the new initiatives we put in place last year. Making them bigger and better. The Finals Weekends for Winter and Spring are a big focus for us, we want as many Alumni to join us as possible.

Thanks for reading, and share it with your Irish esports friends.

- Adam