After more than a year of construction, the new gaming center hosted its grand opening on Jan. 30 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The multimillion-dollar center is named Comets LANding, a reference to gaming LAN events where multiplayer games are played in-person through a network of connected computers.
The Pub, a former restaurant on campus, was demolished March 2024 as part of the ongoing plan to renovate campus, with the gaming center replacing the bar. Previously, the Student Union sported a smaller Gaming Arena only accessible to those with esports credentials; the new center will open up high-tech gaming to the rest of campus.
Comets LANding offers a new food option for students, Buffalo Wild Wings, which gave away free food to students during the unveiling of the new center. The center has a dedicated gaming arena and a gaming area with over one hundred PCs as part of the new amenities available to students.
At the grand opening, multiple speakers including President Richard Benson gave speeches before the ribbon cutting. Benson and his fellow speakers emphasized that the center would help students and was part of a three-billion-dollar campus-wide investment. After the ribbon cutting, attendees could play on the computers while a series of esports matches were set up to run throughout the day.
There are over 60 games available at the Gaming Center as of launch, including Marvel Rivals, Valorant and Street Fighter 6, with multiple games allowing users to simply borrow accounts to play on. With the high-tech specs of the PCs, including an Intel i9 chip and NVIDIA RTX 4080 graphics card, users can play games that they may be unable to run on their personal devices.
At around 1 p.m. opening day, the center hosted exhibition matches to show off the new esports arena. The University of North Texas’ esports teams were invited to play, including their Valorant, Overwatch and League of Legends teams. The Comets swept their opponents with a 1-0 victory in League, a 2-0 win in Overwatch and a 2-0 roll in Valorant.
After the grand opening, the center closed early at around 7:30 p.m. with regular hours resuming the next day. Comets LANding will be open from 10 a.m. to midnight on weekdays and from noon to 11 p.m. on weekends.
Until Feb. 10, Comets LANding will offer an introductory period, where all students are given 25 free hours of access to the PCs. Students are required to pay a semesterly fee of $50 after their free hours expire to continue using the PCs. The computers can be used to access 61 games, 15 of which are free to play. If students already own one of the games, they can connect their personal account to their school account.
The $50 semesterly fee is subject to change based on the rate UTD Esports and its software provider ggCircuit agree upon.
