Plavswhich pioneered esports in high schools and middle schools in North America, announced its Stadium product, a digital-first esports competition platform.
The stadium is designed to cater to a wide audience, including community groups, organizations and informal teams, PlayVS CEO John Chapman said in an interview with GamesBeat.
Building on the success of the original platform designed for academic competition, the new platform offers flexible competition settings that can be public, private or hidden, allowing for a range of event types from open community tournaments to exclusive institutional events.
PlayVS said it is committed to offering the highest level of esports competition, including increased accessibility for young players. Because of this, in November 2023, the platform became completely free for students to compete, and in March 2024, PlayVS expanded its educational program to middle schools.
Now, the stadium was built for a wider audience, including groups, community organizations and gaming enthusiasts who seek a platform to organize and participate in competitions of their own. It was designed for those who wanted the freedom of the game without institutional constraints, so teams did not need institutional affiliation or appointed coaches.
Stadium supports simple tournaments created by third-party partners and more complex competitions powered by PlayVS.
The power of gaming
Esports has had a positive impact on students: 83% of coaches have noted enhanced leadership skills in their students, and 57% of students report that esports makes them feel like they are part of a community. With the stadium, PlayVS hopes to extend the positive influence of esports beyond the school environment.
“This new stadium product is exciting not only for PlayVS, but for the entire esports industry. Our goal has always been to increase the accessibility of esports, and now this removes even more barriers for players,” said Chapman. “Between our extensive partner network and the amazing community of students and coaches, our hope is that the stadium will usher in a new era of inclusivity and greater competition for gamers.”
Since 2018, PlayVS has enabled more than 250,000 matches across states in the US and Canada, crowning more than 900 state champions. Today, the average esports program is now comparable to traditional sports teams, giving students the community and camaraderie that team sports provide.
And while the PlayVS scholastic community continues to grow rapidly, the stadium’s capabilities will now give players the ability to compete, even if their school doesn’t currently have an esports program or they want to compete with friends from neighboring schools.
PlayVS is unveiling the stadium in its first public tournament which begins on September 22. Upgrade Arena: Rocket League sponsored by Lenovo Legion will be a 3v3 Rocket League tournament open to players 13-18 years old in the US and Canada with no coach or school. Requirements to participate. Registration is now open and can be found here: stadium.playvs.com.
“We are really excited. The genesis of the stadium product for us came from something that happened to me the first time I was here as CEO of PlayVS,” said Chapman. “I was very impressed with the traction the company gained in establishing numerous sanctioned high school competitive leagues.”
He added, “The company’s founding mission was to create a platform that could make esports as relevant as any other traditional sport in the state where a team could win a state championship. I was very impressed with it. “
The network spans nearly 27 of the 50 states that support official state championships in esports. The company has continued to expand that business.
“Our research shows 90% High school students will play video games in some way. They may not be avid gamers, but they can have a console and play on a PC,” Chapman said. “They participate in video games because obviously it’s a huge part of our culture. Yet only 10% of those students actually take the step to be on a team to officially compete for their school.”
Chapman was struck that the company could reimagine its platform in a way that would allow for more forms of competitive sports, both for the 80% of high school students who don’t have time to join an esports team.
“They may actually play traditional games, but they’re really interested in gaming, and they may be interested in playing on a competitive team. So how can we create more short-form experiences for that audience, where they can compete?” Chapman said.
A tournament can take up to several weeks to play in its entirety, or it can take only one day. The platform is flexible.
“We think it will open up partnerships,” he said.
“I’m here in the US. And incredibly passionate about gaming in Canada and eventually beyond. I think the way you do that is you just have to drive partnerships and give individuals more opportunities to participate,” Chapman said. “This really opens it up. You don’t have to have a coach, you have to have an official school team. It doesn’t have to be a part. It’s always been a requirement with our educational version of our platform.”
The first stadium tournament will focus on Rocket League play, with the competition starting soon and the finals in October.
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Delen Parnell founded the for-profit company in 2018. The vision was that high school is a place where esports and sports can accomplish social change.
But he left to take up other projects. During the boom in esports, Parnell helped fund SoftBank’s SoftBank Innovation Fund, Adidas, Samsung Next and Sean “P. DD” Combs. After some controversy over communications about the exclusive deal, Parnell resigned as CEO in May 2023.
After the search, Chapman, who previously ran education firm Everfi for 15 years, was hired as CEO in June 2023. Now it has grown to be used in 5,000 schools and has 85 employees.
Chapman believes that esports helps students learn leadership skills, communication and teamwork. For 46% of children, PlayVS became the first extracurricular activity they ever joined. There are other competitors in the space, some launched before and after the pandemic, as esports continues to grow and recover from the “esports winter” that occurred during the pandemic.
“As we surveyed our community’s approaches to students, we learned that they longed for more opportunities to play,” Chapman said. “I think we’re going to get more students who would never consider doing esports in high school. We will also get students who want to play more.”
They will also want to play outside the school term. So Chapman now has a way to keep up with PlayVS.
“We’re uniquely positioned because none of our other competitors can offer that at that scale,” he said.
Hopes and dreams
In five years, Chapman wants to increase the reach of PlaVS to 25,000 schools.
Chapman believes in a similar vision of games leading to social change where, for example, nerds and jocks can get along because they all love games. In esports, physical brawn is not that important. He was happy to go to the state tournament in Massachusetts, where he saw six of the eight finalist girls in a Mario Kart match.
“It was really nice to know that she was connected with the girls and would be able to compete for the same trophies as the boys,” he said. “They have an opportunity to play more widely.”
Chapman says surveys show that esports events are making great strides in things like improved mental health and leadership education.
“We are a positive force for good as an extracurricular activity in many schools,” he said.
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