Welcome to a new feature series we’re running, Career Spotlight. We’ll be talking to people from all over the world of esports whether that’s publisher, player or one of the other many exciting roles that now exist. You can become part of the interview too, let us know who you’d like to talk to and what questions you’d like to ask them! Without further ado let’s talk to our first industry insider.
Steven Levitt is the UK business development manager at noblechairs, planning and executing their marketing and communication strategies across the country. We talked with him about how he got into the space, what his time at university was like and the advice he’d give to university societies today.
NSE - Hi Steven, thanks for speaking to us. Could you tell our student readers what your role entails, what are you responsible for at noblechairs?
Steven Levitt - Hi NSE, my role consists of many different responsibilities, from PR and marketing, to working with online content creators and exhibiting noblechairs at events. In addition I have also been dealing with partnerships that surround our company. To cut things short, my personal objective is to ensure noblechairs are everywhere!
That sounds great. So what led up to you working for noblechairs? Where did you work beforehand?
I have been in the gaming industry coming up to 11 years now. Back in 2008 I joined an online PC gaming enthusiast retailer called Overclockers UK, starting as a Saturday shop assistant and working my way up the ranks to PR Manager.
noblechairs was founded in 2016 by our parent company Caseking. In late 2017 I was put in charge of the noblechairs in the UK and headed up as the Business Development Manager. This was a huge challenge for me, transforming it from a no-name brand into something special. Looking back at it now, it’s crazy to think noblechairs was not a brand a year and a half ago.
Has gaming always been a passion of yours? What games did you grow up playing?
I have always had an interest in gaming, especially FPS games, which is where it all began. I recently found the receipt for when I purchased Counter Strike 1.6, on 15th December 2004 at exactly 16:52pm from HMV. I also bought a copy of Halo at the same time, I had my weekend set that day! - Of course I also played the original Diablo, Settlers, Age of Empires and even Slay on the floppy disk!
I truly believe that if you are working in the gaming industry, you need to have a passion for gaming if you want to go far. We stand out because we’re gamers ourselves and understand what they expect.
You studied at Staffordshire University, how was gaming perceived whilst you were there?
Being at Staffordshire University was the only time in my life where I didn’t game for 3 years. That was unfortunately not out of choice, it was because Steam was blocked and on total lockdown in university halls. However, since I’ve graduated it is brilliant to see so many passionate esports societies, I’m also extremely interested to see Staffordshire University being the first to bring out an Esports BA degree. How times have changed!
Was there any kind of gaming society at that point?
If there was and I knew about it, then I would 100% have been a member - sadly this was not the case at the time. It is great to see all of the effort and passion being put into esports societies over the last few years and we are really excited to be part of it.
If you’re a student that is a part of NSE, I am more than happy to offer you 10% off noblechairs as an exclusive NSE discount. [Editor: You can check that out here]
One of the biggest areas of development in university esports has been around societies creating their own team brands. What would be a piece of advice you’d give these societies or indeed teams in creating a successful brand?
My advice to the societies is to get their university behind esports. Like traditional sports, it would be great to have the facilities available for teams to play together, not just online. You can reach out to local businesses for sponsorship. A great example locally to me is Keele – the esports society, the university and Overclockers UK worked together to create a Gaming Lab that is used for study during working hours and by the society members in the evenings and at weekends.
If all esports societies can set some targets and show off their achievements to the university, connect and network with as many people within the industry and really change the universities attitudes towards gaming and esports, that will not only grow your own society, but it will definitely shake up and create a movement. Esports is here to stay, and it’s booming!
You can find out more about noblechairs and Steven over on his Twitter: @fiveub
FOLLOW NSE
Twitter - Instagram - Facebook
