Growing up in rural Pennsylvania, Adam Nelson found a refuge in video games. Now, he wants to give up and coming players a shot at a career doing what they love.
Nelson is also experience director for veteran-focused nonprofit Bunker Labs.
Now, in addition to being experience director for the Northeast region of the nonprofit, Nelson flipped his passion for video games into a career as the founder of competitive gaming tournament organizer Philly Esports, founded in November of last year. The company hosts monthly gaming tournaments that seek to emulate the ambiance of the bigger, more established esports leagues, like the kind Philly’s own N3rd St. Gamers plans to host throughout 2019 in 10 U.S. cities.
Video games, of course, are a wildly different space than when Nelson was growing up, slaying virtual ducks with Nintendo’s light gun. Dozens of colleges around the country now have varsity esports teams, with many offering scholarships to top players. League-level players can make hundreds of thousands of dollars playing professionally, including some on Philly’s own Overwatch league team.