National Association of Collegiate Esports Partners with iBUYPOWER
Partnership serves to streamline esports arena buildouts and provide technical support to institutions
KANSAS CITY, MO (January 16, 2018) –The National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) announced today that iBUYPOWER, a California-based gaming systems provider, is now the official gaming PC provider for the 90 collegiate institutions with varsity esports programs across the United States that NACE supports.
If collegiate esports is to continue to grow, then organizations like NACE need to help support colleges and universities in starting varsity esports programs. One of the most critical components of a varsity team is having an esports arena on campus. For the last two years NACE has collected information from its member institutions to help advise others on how to quickly and cost-effectively build esports arenas on campus. At the same time iBUYPOWER has been at the forefront in supporting collegiate esports, including high profile sponsorships to help outfit arenas that include UC Irvine, Robert Morris, Columbia College and many others.
“Our partnership is the next step for us in providing a whole end-to-end ecosystem with trusted partners who our member institutions can rely upon to provide top-notch equipment. Just like traditional athletics, your facility is an important component for recruitment. More so, as students and administrators on campus continue to push for greater recognition of competitive gaming as a varsity sport, your arena is where your legitimacy begins. Having something that people can see and touch is a great tool when educating those unfamiliar with esports. iBUYPOWER has been a strong proponent of college esports since the very beginning. But until know, while we had the same goals for the space, both NACE and iBUYPOWER were working separately. With this partnership we can now push in the same direction together and our institutions can lean on their expertise to create a collaborative environment for all parties to take full advantage of,” said Michael Brooks, NACE Executive Director.
As part of this partnership NACE will be forming an advisory panel made of esports coaches and industry experts to make recommendations for collegiate programs year-over-year to make certain varsity programs compete with the best equipment available.
“Esports is in our DNA and we’re excited to partner with NACE to bring collegiate esports to the next level with our knowledge of running national esports tournaments,” said Darren Su, iBUYPOWER Executive Vice President. “At varsity level competitive play, the difference in system performance could determine the victors. Before teams even get into the game, we need to ensure players are able to compete at their highest potential with the best systems but we don’t do it alone. Our partners at Intel provide our systems with the cutting-edge technology needed to compete in esports tournaments.”
iBUYPOWER systems supplied to universities under NACE are equipped with the latest Intel® 8th and 9th gen Core™ processors. Keeping the processor, or CPU, up-to-date with cutting-edge technology is essential to maintaining the integrity of esports matches. Processors that are unable to keep up with the proper frame rate, the game’s running speed, can put a player at a big disadvantage. “With Intel’s technology, we can ensure all varsity esports teams compete at the same high-performing level,” said Darren Su.
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About NACE
The National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) is a nonprofit membership association organized by and on behalf of our member institutions and is the only governing body of college esports in North America. Together, our members are developing the structure and tools needed to advance collegiate esports in the varsity space. We are collaborating to lay the groundwork in areas such as: Eligibility, Path to Graduation, and Competition & Scholarships. NACE currently has 90 varsity esports programs as members, accounting for nearly all (96%) varsity programs across North America.
About iBUYPOWER
Since 1999, iBUYPOWER has been delivering on its promise to build the best gaming systems for the most discerning gamers. Even in a time when PCs were not as ubiquitous as they are today, we fueled the passion for gaming by giving our customers the highest quality in custom built computers. Our systems have since become the backbone for professional gamers, game developers, LAN centers, major esports tournaments, and every day consumers.
iBUYPOWER has worked intimately with brands such as Intel, NVIDIA, AMD, Microsoft, Western Digital, Asus, Bethesda, MLG, and many more. Superior performance, reliability, cutting edge technology, and timely production make iBUYPOWER the authority in PC gaming.
For Media Inquiries:
NACE: Info@NACEsports.org
iBUYPOWER: yentl.ip@ibuypower.com
