Fife gaming entrepreneur David Hamilton has purchased Scotland’s professional esports company with the hopes of bringing the industry to the masses.
David is already the majority shareholder of his own eRena brand, which Esports Scotland will become part of.
Esports are organised video game competitions, which has evolved into a billion-dollar industry since the 1990s.
Plans to build a purpose-built eSport arena in Dundee have been mooted recently, but David said there had been a missed opportunity in recent years to develop the industry.
And merging the two operations, he said, would allow him to help expand and grow esports further.
The Dundee-educated multi-millionaire has a number of investments and companies, including the Scottish Deer Centre, Coel Brew and the recently announced “trackable ice cream van” Scooply.
His company Ninja Kiwi was bought by Swedish digital entertainment company Modern Times Group (MTG) in a deal worth up to £135 million.
Esports Scotland to become part of eRena
Professional football clubs, including Dundee and Dundee United, have esport teams in their rosters, both competing previously in the first eScottish Cup.
As well as football computer games like FC24, Esports Scotland have organised leagues and competitions for players of titles including Rainbow Six: Siege, League of Legends, Valorant and Rocket League.
ERena was first set-up by David with involvement of former Dundee United manager Jackie McNamara and former United chairman Michael Martin.
“People compete all the time, online, in computer games. They might not know yet if they are one of the best eSports up-and-comers,” he said.
“We want to alert people there is an opportunity to become a professional eSport player.”
Growth of Esports in Scotland
David said the former owner of Esports Scotland, James Hood, approached him after feeling he had taken his company as far as he could.
“The former owner of eSports Scotland had hit some difficulties, securing sponsorship and organising larger-scale tournaments and the like. And he got in touch with me, asking if eRena would be keen on taking over the reigns.
“I really want to take a hold of esports in Scotland and push it further forward. We want to make esports grow to its full potential. There has been a bit of a dip in the number of tournaments in the last few years.
“And we are lacking somewhat compared to other countries, who are pushing the boundaries of esports.
“So I want to be the advocate for it in Scotland, kick-off these competitions and have more of them.
“Speaking to current football esports players in Scotland, they feel there has been a ‘moment missed’ in terms of where we are with things in the last years.
“And the amount of competitions players can enter has reduced recently. I want to change that.”
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