British Army training with help of esports competition
1 October 2024
A few months ago, we wrote an article about how Activision, the studio behind hugely popular games like Call of Duty and Overwatch, had at the time just signed the UK Armed Forces Covenant. This opened a host of opportunities for collaboration between the two parties and it led to the “Call of Duty Endowment”, Activision’s charity arm, to formally commit itself as part of its efforts to raise money and awareness for veteran employment.
That partnership seems to have accelerated the British army’s interest in esports overall, because a large number of troops has been participating in special competitions lately. Personnel from across the British Army have been taking part in competitions that feature some of the biggest esports titles in the world, including League of Legends and Counter-Strike 2. Under the name “Mercury Contra”, troops from all three military branches (British Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy) joined the competitions to find out who is the best, while also training essential skills like communication and teamwork.
Relaxation and teambuilding
As mentioned earlier, the Mercury Contra exercise featured various big titles. The British military personnel competed in Call of Duty, Counter-Strike 2, League of Legends and Rocket League. These are also amongst the biggest and most-played titles in terms of esports in the UK. And apart from training important real-life skills like communication and teamwork, playing esports together also offers the members of the military an opportunity to relax and let off some steam.
"You're doing something you enjoy”, says Corporal Jacob Upton from the Adjutant General’s Corps (ACG), one of the largest Corps in the British Army, "If you're losing terribly you're not going to be having a great time, but… you're still on with your buddies, you get to have a laugh, you get to joke about who's the worst player, who's getting better. You always pick on the worst player – it's normally me – but it's just something to relax at the end of the day [and] offload."
Positive impact on recruitment
On top of the relaxation and training provided by titles like Call of Duty and League of Legends, the British military also sees another role for esports in the UK and in the armed forces particularly. The growing exposure for gaming and esports in the UK is making it easier for organisations like the British Armed Forces to reach a wider audience. They hope that this, in turn, will result in improving recruitment numbers as well.
"Every time we've done an event it's always streamed, so we've got loads of people watching from an outside point of view”, explains Sergeant Matthew Fender from the Royal Logistic Corps, “It is going to allow us to bring new people into the military. The recruitment aspect that this could produce is massive in my opinion. A lot of people are playing esports… we can now push it out to civilian members and go 'Well, we're pushing this as well now, come join us, come watch [and] come and support your military'."