WACO, TX — Do you know a gamer? Chances are, you know at least a few. Video games and so-called electronic, or e-sports, have become big business. You might have seen some of the tournaments on 25 News.
Now, a downtown Waco business has become laying the groundwork to become a player in e-sports- not just a small player, a major player.
Megan Bradley likes bringing her daughter to downtown Waco's Nexus E-Sports Center because of the choices in video games it offers, but she comes back at night for the shows.
"I was here for their first show, actually that was really cool. I really like it, I like the events," she said.
Nexus started as a gaming center structured like a gym, people pay monthly memberships to play here. Now the business has begun to branch out.
Nexus just keeps growing. They just put in a big stage to make this place less of a gaming center and more of an overall entertainment center.
Broadening its appeal, and bringing in new audiences.
"We basically want to be a premier entertainment venue in Central Texas," explained CEO Zach Krizan, who believes staying in entertainment, and branching out into live performances, will help bring in new revenue from places he didn't first expect.
"Basically events. I wanna do big events. We wanna fill the place up, and we wanna make a deal to just make a gaming hang out place," he said.
This new addition also sets the stage for another business venture- live-streaming of big gaming tournaments, tournaments Krizan says can put Waco and Central Texas on the gaming map.
"We've been working with Texas Music Cafe, and they have their own video production. and we stream. We have our own streaming studio dedicated for tournaments," he said.
Tournaments can be found on Twitch.
Krizan has already become so successful, he's found sponsors for a couple of upcoming tournaments, putting the words, "Waco" and "Central Texas" on the lips of gamers around the world.
"Do I think all this will put this place on the map and Waco? Oh yeah, it's really nice, especially for Waco," said Bradley
The next concert at Nexus takes place Saturday evening October 19th
