UAlbany Esports gears up for new season

UAlbany Esports gears up for new season (WRGB File)

ALBANY, NY (WRGB) —UAlbany Esports has finished tryouts – video games have been decided and teams are locked in. Members joined me here at CBS6 to share the game plan before the season starts on Monday (September 14th).

Almost 70 members across 14 teams will be competing on the SUNY and national level in three different conferences.

John Macone, Director of Esports, UAlbany: “One of the conferences we’re in, NECC, is the largest collegiate conference there is for collegiate esports and that’s been a real tester for us in terms of divisional placements, playoff placements, right? Our competitiveness year over year has really grown. And that growth includes the variety of games UAlbany will be competing in.”

Liana Ferguson, Program Coordinator, UAlbany Esports: “We added three titles this semester, Apex Legends, Counter-Strike 2, which was a return, I don’t think it’s had a team for the last three semesters so that was nice to bring back and also another popular title, Deadlock. A focus this year is on supporting competitive teams and the arena itself with staff and volunteers.”

Macone added, “What really stands out to me personally is that we’ve had a lot of students, especially in the last year and a half, and this year really getting involved in things like team management, getting involved in coaching. So we’ve had more people getting involved in this program and the bones and structure of it as we continue to grow out and make our standards more rigid.”

According to Ferguson, “The most popular title was between two titles. It was between Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Marvel Rivals. Marvel Rivals had about 24. Smash Ultimate had about 20. Overwatch almost made it to most popular, about 18 students.”

UAlbany is exploring what travel may look like this year compared to mostly remote matches. They will be live streamed every day of the competitive season, the first match being on the last week of September.

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