Uplink Studios is a physical network of community esports training centers and entertainment arenas.
What is Uplink?
Uplink Studios is a physical network of community esports training centers and entertainment arenas coupled with a proprietary digital platform designed to enable players of all ages to train and compete in a professional environment that focuses on building better gamers and better humans through our virtuous gaming model.
Stats and Success
- Launched February, 2020 – POC league sold out in 8 days
- Spring, 2021 – AGC Partners places Uplink on their esports Ecosystem Map
- Summer, 2022 – Partnered with Philadelphia Union (MLS) to offer co-branded Summer Camps at Subaru Park and Pre-game Boot Camps during home games
- January, 2022 – https://6abc.com/esports-gaming-good-cause-fundraiser/11502371/ (TV coverage of 24 hour charity gaming event for CHOP)
The Benefits
Our goal is to instill in gamers a sense of belonging, while not only teaching them how to be better players, but also helping them develop intangible life skills such as leadership, respect, teamwork and sportsmanship. We also aim to help them, through our coaching and digital platform, attract some of the over $50m in esports scholarships available from over 200 universities in the US.
Proof-of-Concept Location
The current POC location includes an esports training room with 12 gaming PCs, an arena for game day that also accommodates karaoke and dancing for private events. In addition, the location includes a lounge/snack bar/swag shop, MultiBall , 2 racing simulators, and a private room for birthday parties.
What We Need
We have invested over $180,000 to date and have reached a point where our POC location is at capacity. We never expected to remain in this location (2200sqft above a hardware store) for so long, but the pandemic changed everything.
We are looking to move to our first “real” location in Exton, PA. This space is over 5500sqft and will allow us to create a real esports arena, double our PC count in 2 training rooms, add state-of-the-art golf simulators and enable us to host multiple events concurrently.
We need your help to raise the funds necessary to make this happen. Your support of our campaign will move us one step closer to our eventual goal of having multiple locations throughout the Delaware Valley.
Why it Matters
Our virtuous gaming model has already impacted the lives of many children. We are building a safe community of gamers who are free to pursue their passions with other gamers who share those same passions. We help them build self-esteem and confidence while teaching them the soft skills necessary to successfully navigate through the life including teamwork, sportsmanship, leadership and respect.
We are also building a data platform which will track their stats and plays to enable these children to compete for the over $50m in esports scholarships available through over 300 universities in the US.
Risks & Challenges
While we have exceeded our expectations for growth in this POC location, we are not yet profitable. The goal of this campaign is to help us expand into a new location that will generate the revenue necessary to execute on our vision.
We recognize that a recession could negatively impact our growth, but given our success during the pandemic, we believe that we will be able to successfully weather any storm.
How You Can Help
In addition to helping us meet our financial goals for this campaign, we need to get the word out as far and as wide as possible. You can help us by sharing our campaign through your social networks and putting in the good word for us. The more people that see our campaign, the more likely we are to reach our goals. Please consider sharing this far and wide!
Thank you!