From not having a facility on campus to now being sponsored by a new business, the San Jose State Esports club team is looking to make its presence known in the gaming community.
The club is launching a partnership with Guildhouse, a new gamer lounge located in the SoFA District in Downtown San Jose.
Announced on Monday, the partnership allows SJSU Esports club players to host and play tournaments by using Guildhouse’s space and equipment, such as its PCs and an ethernet connection.
Guildhouse will sponsor the club in exchange for putting its name and logo on the players’ jerseys.
Kevin Wick, SJSU alumnus and co-owner of Guildhouse, said it was a perfect fit because SJSU Esports club doesn’t have a dedicated space to play on campus and Guildhouse wants to make its presence known in the downtown community.
“[The players] just want a great environment to practice and compete,” Wick said. “And we, especially right now, have all of this extra equipment and space that we aren't using.”
Wick said he was able to open Guildhouse because the pandemic caused rent to drop and a new project was just a matter of time after his other gamer lounge AFKgg closed.
“After AFK gamer lounge, which was on West Santa Clara Street, closed, I felt like I really owed the gaming community of San Jose a follow-up project,” Wick said. “What's interesting is this was actually the original place we were looking at to put AFK [. . .] three years later, here we are, at our first choice of location with this new project.”
Alan Ignacio, founder and president of the SJSU Esports club said the esports program has been looking to network and partner with businesses in Downtown San Jose. The opportunity finally came when Wick contacted him about Guildhouse.
“I didn’t know about the Guildhouse project until late November,” Ignacio said. “I had to take up the opportunity to see the place myself. And we were sold on it. And we wanted to partner with them.”
Ignacio expressed this was a significant step for SJSU Esports club as the partnership opens opportunities to meet team members in person, host fundraising events and possibly get the club national recognition.
“For the program itself, it gives us an opportunity to house our teams and do physical location stuff that we were never able to do because we don't have a facility on campus,” Ignacio said.
Club sports supervisor Winston Adams shared the same sentiment as Igancio. He said a physical space allows the players to build camaraderie and benefits SJSU Esports club recruiting.
“We want to continue to put together competitive teams,” Adams said. “And having access to a facility like that and getting our players to be seen through streams is going to help [SJSU] be a more recruitable campus.”
Even though the partnership was announced this week, Wick said Guildhouse will not be fully open yet because of the pandemic, meaning esports players can’t use the space until Santa Clara County health guidelines loosen.
SJSU Esports club and Guildhouse said they want to announce the partnership to the SJSU community so by the time fall semester starts and more people are vaccinated, students moving back to San Jose will know where to go to play esports.
“Ideally, by the time San Jose State starts in the fall with more on-campus activities, we're going to be in a position to do a large grand opening event that'll get everyone really excited and involved straight from the start,” Wick said.
For now, Wick said Guildhouse will host limited socially distanced events in order to get feedback about the food, drinks and overall experience.
