The second season of Amazon UNIVERSITY Esports in the UK saw more than 6,500 students from over 700 university teams compete over the last 7 months in the University Esports league, organised by the joint efforts of GGTech and NUEL in the United Kingdom. The competition had a prize pool of over £35,000.
Throughout the academic year, student teams have had the opportunity to compete in a several games, first taking part in inclusive open leagues, then elimination playoffs. The Grand Finals were held in early April – all held online this year due to the European health situation.
Teams from the universities of Bristol, Cambridge, Bournemouth, Bath, Derby, Southampton, and Staffordshire can count themselves as the top Amazon UNIVERSITY Esports teams for 2020/21.
In addition to supporting a wide range of student activities, and working with top broadcast talents from the community throughout the year, we worked with more than 30 student content creators and 4 high-profile streamers to co-broadcast the grand finals.
Qualifiers from our League of Legends, Legends of Runeterra and Clash Royale tournaments also entered the newly revamped and expanded Amazon UNIVERSITY Esports Masters.
Throughout the entire competition, Amazon UNIVERSITY Esports has had the collaboration of prominent partners, who have given their firm support to this tournament since its inception, such as Riot Games. We have also been supported by the presence of new brands, such as top student accommodation provider UNITE Students, Twitch Student and Logitech, a leading company in gaming peripherals, thus consolidating their participation and support to the world of esports.
A major launch this season for Amazon UNIVERSITY Esports UK was the League of Legends Women’s tournament, supported by Women in Games and the British Esports Association’s Women in Esports initiative. The fundamental objective of this tournament was to encourage women and femme-identifying people – who are frequently underrepresented and marginalised in esports – to participate in a League of Legends tournament which was both welcoming and competitive, to give players the best opportunity to show their talent. The winning team of the Spring season tournament was Derby’s Pyjama Guardians, from the University of Derby.
The upcoming Amazon UEMasters tournaments will be broadcast in 10 local languages by our national partners allowing local communities to support and follow their national teams and players who are representing their country on the international stage.