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urdoch University has secured $360 million in funding from the Western Australia (WA) state government to build a new vertical campus, including a digital futures academy and esports hub linked with Singapore and East Asia.

In an exclusive interview, Pentanet.GG Esports managing director, Stephen Cornish, told Ministry of Sport that Perth is an ideal location for an esports hub after the WA government announcement of an esports stadium to be built in the Perth CBD.

“A key message we always try to drive is that Perth is a perfect location for an Australasian esports hub, so it’s really great that now there’s going to be an esports stadium and esports initiatives that Murdoch are doing,” Cornish told Ministry of Sport.

“Things are starting to happen, gears are now moving to put Perth on the radar and on the map when it comes to esports which is what we have always been pushing for,” he said.

Pentanet.GG burst onto the Australian esports scene in 2020 with their first venture in professional competition, which Cornish expressed his enthusiasm about the prospect of finding new talent in the esports industry being discovered out of WA.

With the new plans of an esports hub being built, he said this helps those plans majorly.

“Pentanet.GG is trying to find and cultivate the next best esports talent and create a proper pathway to play professional esports and find the next best players out of WA,” Cornish said.

“WA has always been left to the end of things, we’re too far away from everything, all the servers and all the action is around the population centres.

“I think it [esports stadium] will validate it as a real thing.

“We’re trying to get the message across that this is a real thing.

“We’re trying to get out that what the kid is trying to say to the parent is, like ‘Hey this is a real thing mum or dad and I really want to do this’,” he said.

Cornish said sometimes it can be a frustrating industry as some parents don’t understand that their kids can make a career out of esports.

“They [kids] might get shut down by their parents,” Cornish said.

“Where there is this establishment saying ‘No, no, there is a thing and the whole business is built around creating this for that pathway’, and if someone shows talent and promise we should help propagate that,” he said.

When asked about how this new stadium will benefit esports themselves, Cornish said it will now give esports new life.

“It will give a place for that sport to live,” Cornish said.

“It will cultivate the best talent which we are all about, it will validate it through the next generations parents who are the decision makers,” he said.

The facility will be equipped to host high profile gaming competitions, positioning Perth as a leading esports hub for gaming and related academic activity.

Cornish was adamant that he will forever push for Perth to hold international esports events, when asked if this new stadium would help their case.

“Yes, absolutely.” Cornish said.

“That is one thing I will make sure happens and won’t stop until it does happen,” he said.