Murray State officially unveiled its new, fully-equipped Esports Arena on Friday, Sept.13.
The new space, designed to foster both competitive and casual gaming, originally opened in the fall of 2023 as a part of the Curris Center interior renovations.
The project, located on the first floor of the Curris Center, was made possible by the support of a local tech firm, Devsource Technology. During the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Devsource Technology CEO Mike Hopkins showed great pride in his company’s contribution.
“I’m immensely proud to be here,” Hopkins said. “I’m a graduate of Murray State University, seventh-generation Calloway County Hopkins, but the first to graduate from college. Many of our employees over the years are graduates from Murray State, and so it just means a lot to us.”
Hopkins also noted the role gaming has played in both his professional and personal life.
“It’s no secret we’re a technology company…They’re all gamers,” he said. “It’s a big part of life.”
The arena represents a significant investment in the future of competitive gaming at the University. Monte Kennedy, Murray State Esports Club adviser, has been involved with the program since 2019 and is enthusiastic about the University’s investment in Esports and the new opportunities the arena offers.
“We’ve been pushing Murray State for a while…We’ve had several different ideas of what that would look like, and all of a sudden it came to the bubble,” Kennedy said. “And it was like, ‘Well, we’re doing renovations. We’ve got this idea for a new Esports space. What do you think?'”
Even after seeing the plans, Kennedy was still unsure the space would happen.
“I don’t think I ever truly believed it until I came over here one day to see that they had gutted out this part and had the drywall up,” he said. “Then I was like, ‘oh, this is actually happening.’ Sometimes I still gotta pinch myself a little bit when I come in here.”
The arena offers students access to high-performance gaming equipment, including 30 gaming personal computers (PCs) and console gaming stations, with dedicated areas for both casual and competitive play. These new spaces have transformed the Esports experience at Murray State.
“We’re seeing a lot more face-to-face engagement,” Kennedy said. “Before, we were in the IT building, we had a small room with only 12 computers, so it was mostly our competitive teams. But now this is open to all students, and we’re seeing a lot more casual engagement and support for the program.”
There are now almost 1000 students involved in Esports at Murray State and there will soon be a team registered in the Missouri Valley Conference.
