Together with the esports minor at The Hague University of Applied Sciences, GameLab visited the headquarters of Team Liquid: one of the world's largest and best-known esports organisations.
Team Liquid was founded in the Netherlands in 2000 as a StarCraft community website, but grew into a professional esports empire with teams across countless games and offices in Utrecht, São Paulo and Los Angeles.
We toured their impressive office. Dozens of trophies are displayed in the entrance hall. Naturally, computers and screens for playing games are everywhere. It takes little imagination to picture an internationally leading esports team based here.
With sponsors such as Alienware, Marvel, IMC, SAP, Blacklyte and Coinbase, there is no need to compromise on appearance or functionality. An average gaming PC used by Team Liquid costs between 6000 and 8000 euros. And the entire building is full of them.
Gaming takes place in rooms with space for a coach and an analyst alongside the four players. Next to the gaming room is a briefing room resembling a small cinema, where players can speak to the media after their top performances.
The team owns its own block of flats to house esports players when they gather from around the world for tournaments. This is more efficient than hotels.
The GameLab students were amazed. The esports world is also a world of games, familiar to them mainly through streamers and creators who are also around here. Taking a quick selfie with League of Legends legend Broxah was no problem. It was a unique opportunity to see inside this "Training Facility".
After the tour, the esports minor students gave presentations on collaborating with the world's best chess player, Magnus Carlsson. He too is affiliated with Team Liquid.
Many thanks to Raphael Priftis for organising this visit!
