WELCOME TO ROYAL HOLLOWAY ESPORTS
The main hub for anything Esports on campus! From LAN events and competitive online officials to casual watch parties and game nights, Esports has everything you need!
About us
Esports at Royal Holloway is managed by a dedicated committee and offers members opportunities to represent RHUL in national leagues such as NSE (National Student Esports) and University Esports UKI (formerly NUEL), the most popular games being VALORANT, Counter-Strike, Overwatch, and League of Legends. Outstanding players may trial to join the Royal Bears teams and be selected to compete in the annual varsity LAN tournament against the University of Surrey and any other external online qualifiers and LAN Events with fully reimbursed travel! (dependent on distance)
For those seeking a more casual experience, we host watch parties and LAN events both on campus and online. Whether you're aiming to go pro or just want to have fun, everyone is welcome to join and participate!
Socials
Membership
Royal Holloway Esports offers two memberships:
COMPETITIVE MEMBERSHIP: This is ONLY for players representing Royal Holloway in our student esports leagues and any external events that may be held for their respective game. This ensures that we are able to support players adequately, including reimbursement for transport to any external events, any training we may hold with professionals and exclusive team socials.
SOCIAL MEMBERSHIP: This is for anyone that is interested about Esports and is eager to get involved. This membership ensures all socials held are to a high standard and incluide snacks and drink and any equipment we may hire out for the event. It also ensures you have free entry to any External or on-campus LAN events we may hold.
Events and Activities
National Student Esports
National Student Esports and UNIVERSITY ESPORTS (affiliated with BUCS) is one of two of student esports leagues where university esports teams from all over the UK sign up to their respective games and are locked into 8 weeks, once a week of intense, competitive games facing off against other UK teams in your game for a chance to qualify to the Prize Playoffs, where university teams can fight for a chance at a prize pool of £1000+!
These games include:
- Valorant
- League of Legends
- Overwatch
- Counter Strike
- Marvel Rivals
- Apex Legends
- Rocket League
- Splatoon
- Rainbow Six Siege
- F1
- Assetto Corsa
- Dota 2
and many community events to get involved with and win prizes!
London Lock In
Hosted at least 3 times every academic year, London Lock is an inter-uni in person LAN tournament hosted at the Red Bull Gaming Sphere. Hosting the best university esports teams in London, players come and compete in their respective games for a chance to win the Grand Prize and the London Lock In trophy! Every London Lock In event we take the most dedicated and talented Royal Bears Players in their games and take them to compete at this prestigious LAN Previous grand prizes included:
Previous games included:
- Valorant
- Overwatch
- League of Legends
- + more games planned for future events!
Interested? Check out the socials, event tournament page and Twitch VOD below to know what to expect!
Watch Parties
Dependent on popularity, we host a multitude of Watch Parties for a range of games, even game-related shows! These include:
- Overwatch Champions Series
- Valorant Game Changers + VCT Champions
- League of Legends Worlds Finals
- Arcane (incl. a themed bar inspired by "The Last Drop"!)
Termly LAN Events
Every term we strive to host LAN events open to all members of our club, Social and Competitive! This gives our members a chance to play their favourite games in a friendly atmosphere, whether it's with their friends or to meet new people, it's always a great time!
Varsity
Every March, we hold our official Varsity event against Surrey University, where we face off in a multitude of games in order to raise the Varsity trophy! Last year's games included Valorant, Overwatch, Counter Strike, Woman and Non-Binary Valorant and Marvel Rivals, where we sweeped Surrey University 4-1 and took home the trophy!
How to join our Competitive Teams
Interested in becoming a Royal Bear and representing Royal Holloway in Esports?
Team Trials
We hold trials at the start of the year for our 1st Team Royal Bears and our 2nd Team Royal Cubs. Both will compete in National Student Esports and University Esports and our Royal Bears team will compete in Varsity and London Lock In, dependent on the Game Admin.
If you're interested in joining our teams for the 2025/2026 Academic Year, make sure to check out our Linktree and join our discord for information on Application for Trials!
As mentioned, Competitive Membership is only £12 in order to help us cover all your travel and social expenses, including any extra curricular activities we might host in order to help improve your career as an Esports Athlete!
Any Questions let us know, and we hope to see you in Esports!