The United Kingdom Royal Navy’s HMS Prince of Wales has created an esports suite as part of a wider partnership with the British Esports Federation (British Esports).
The British Esports Foundation shared that the new suite will be used for esports tournaments and that Royal Navy Esports will organise future leagues.
The facility boasts 12 high-end Alienware Aurora R15 gaming desktop PC’s, featuring NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 GPUs and Intel Core i7 CPU processors.
“Having an esports suite available to the ship’s company on Prince of Wales is a massive win for the morale on board, as those who use it can enjoy their hobbies or discover a new one, while at the same time engaging with others outside their usual departmental circles,” stated LET(CIS)Spec Victoria Marley, Esports Committee Member.
The esports facility is also part of a larger partnership between British Esports and the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD). It will join other facilities onboard the vessel, such as gyms and boxing rings. This is all for the ship’s personnel to enjoy during its eight-month-long global UK Carrier Strike Group deployment to the Indo-Pacific region.
“Fostering Communication, Leadership and Strategic Skills”
Chester King, President of British Esports, added: “We’ve been working with the armed forces since 2019, and as part of our wider partnership with Dell, Intel and Alienware, British Esports has now been able to provide high-spec kit and equipment to this landmark esports facility.
“We’re thrilled to partner with the Royal Navy and the Ministry of Defence for this. Gaming is becoming increasingly important to the military, as it offers many benefits such as fostering communication, leadership and strategic skills, and allows personnel to strengthen bonds, unwind and maintain positive mental health. We look forward to announcing more exciting partnerships soon.”
The esports scene has grown more prominent in the UK. According to British Esports, the MoD recognised esports as an official military sport just last year. Furthermore, the UK government has been looking to expand it’s esports and gaming efforts, as earlier this year it posted a job opening for a Head of Video Games and Esports.
