Luxury brand Gucci and FACEIT have announced a new joint venture to develop the next generation of esports stars: the Gucci Gaming Academy.
Announced during the Grand Finals of the PGL Antwerp Major 2022, the Gucci Gaming Academy will provide individual in-game, psychological, and physical coaching, hardware, access to the vast Gucci and FACEIT esports networks to select players.
Promising CS:GO players have already been handpicked from FPL to take part, and their training is well under way, according to a release from Gucci and FACEIT
Who is in the Gucci Gaming Academy?
The first wave of prospects who have been selected by Gucci and FACEIT are as follows:
- Lukasz “mwlky” Pachucki (Poland)
- Mārtiņš “shadiyy” Gūtmani (Latvia)
- Brajan “DGL” Lemecha (Poland)
- Rokas “EspiranTo” Milasauskas (Lithuania)
EspiranTo is also the highest active member on FACEIT out of the four. Beginning with these four rising stars, the Gucci Gaming Academy aims to continue to grow the program, selecting future candidates based on in-game performance, and several other factors.
In addition, commentator James Bardolph, CS:GO legend Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund and Stephanie “missharvey” Harvey will act as ambassadors for the Academy.
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According to a release, players will “acquire the expertise and tools that will ultimately lead them to be scouted by an esports organization and pursue a professional career.” Once this happens, they will move on from the program, and a new crop of players will start.
How to qualify for the Gucci Gaming Academy
All players selected for the Gucci Gaming Academy will come from FPL, FACEIT’s solo-queue environment. The Gucci Gaming Academy will act as a next step to FPL, provide support and enhance “soft skills,” and help the next generation of esports stars navigate the mental and physical issues coming from the pressure of in-game performance and online scrutiny.
The Gucci Gaming Academy will also provide players with access to individual and group psychological support and will see Gucci and FACEIT work with the World Health Organization as well.
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“We are dedicated to supporting the up-and-coming generations of players to help manage the challenges they may face as a result of participating in esports,” Nicolas Oudinot, Gucci VAULT CEO said. “Understanding the issues that are relevant to them and learning about these from the people they affect are at the core of this collaboration.”
With a massive amount of resources being provided, it will be extremely interesting to see where the players from the first class of the Gucci Gaming Academy end up, and if we’ll be seeing them at major tournaments in the future.
