St. Edward’s hosted its second video game tournament Nov. 16, allowing students to fight for dominance in the free battle royale game “Fortnite.” Jones Auditorium served as the playing field for the 100 man face off, decked out with merchandise and strobe lights, courtesy of Microsoft. Jesse Plaza, with the Office of Information Technology, said the Microsoft store at the Domain helped outfit the space for the event.

The event was hosted by OIT, Recreation and Wellness and St. Edward’s new ESports club. The new intramural team, which currently focuses on “Overwatch” and “League of Legends” helped with the planning and sponsoring of this event.

According to Clint James, the Associate Director of Rec Well, they decided to host the event because of the apparent popularity of ESports. “I think you’ll notice that there are more people watching world finals of ‘League of Legends’ and ‘Overwatch’ than there are people watching the Superbowl now.”

James also commented that it was important to support video game players and host events for this niche of students that aren’t typically represented in conventional sporting events.  “I think there’s a game out there for everybody,” James said, “I grew up playing Super Nintendo and the original XBox and Halo and stuff like that, now there’s new games the students are wanting to play and wanting to see. I think it helps us capture not just the student athletes who are physically active and have been given that gift, but it also captures those who are better with their hand eye coordination and playing games.”

All proceeds from the tournament were donated to Dell Children’s Hospital, according to Plaza. Team “98th Place,” composed of Seniors Baxter Coronado and Hogan Daughters, clutched the first win of the night, and expressed their happiness not only to show off their sharp shooting, but also to help contribute to a good cause.

“It’s going to the greatest cause,” Daughters said, “it’s better than me spending 15, 20 bucks on anything else that I can do.”

“All the prize raffling is going straight to Dell. I spent some money out here trying to get some prizes, I spent 50 bucks and it’s all worth it. Even if I don’t win it’s going to a good cause.” Coronado said.

The next tournament will be taking place sometime in the Spring semester, and planners at OIT, Rec Well and the Esports team are already brainstorming on any possible games students would want to compete in. James mentioned a possible game would be the newest Super Smash Bros. game that is set to release in December, but it is ultimately up to what the St. Edward’s ESports community is interested in.

“We are looking to the community to figure out what you guys are interested in seeing. We are looking to put on at least one event per semester. We’ve done Rocket League, we’ve done Fortnite, I’d really love to hear what the Hilltopper community is looking to see. What would get you to spend a Friday night in Jones playing video games?” Plaza said.

If you’re interested in giving your input on the upcoming tournament, you can contact OIT at seu_OIT on Twitter or Facebook and propose any competitive games you’re interested in playing or seeing in the future.