PlayVS Stadium
Stadium is the sister platform to PlayVS.com, designed to bring everyone the same competitive gaming experience, unrestricted by school programs. Players can easily form teams, join tournaments, and manage their matches, making esports accessible for gamers of all levels.
The Goal
PlayVS Stadium was designed to take the core strengths of the PlayVS platform and reimagine them for a broader audience. Unlike the scholastic platform, Stadium removes the constraints of school programs, creating a space for diverse teams, organizations, and formats that wouldn't fit within traditional structures. The goal was to build an amateur tournament platform that could scale to meet the needs of gamers, sponsors, and brand partnerships alike.
The Challenge
We needed to repurpose and adapt features from the PlayVS platform while ensuring the product could stand on its own. The design had to appeal to a completely new set of users—beyond scholastic coaches and student players—while maintaining consistency with PlayVS’s existing design systems and principles. Meeting a tight deadline was crucial to launch the platform in time for major sponsor collaborations, including our first major event for the Madden NFL 25 Youth Competition.
My Role
I contributed to nearly every aspect of the project, including:
Feature Adaptation: Reimagined key features from the PlayVS platform to fit the needs of a wider audience while maintaining scalability using the existing design system.
User Research & Personas: Collaborated on new user personas, targeting gamers and organizations outside the scholastic framework. Partnered with user research to conduct usability testing and analyze competitors in the market.
User Journeys: Created user journeys tailored to the diverse roles and motivations of Stadium’s audience.
Art Direction & Asset Production: Worked closely on art direction while managing and producing assets to support a cohesive visual identity.
Scalability: Ensured that the product leveraged exisiting design patterns and components, minimizing development effort.
Team Leadership: Shared insights and progress with the broader design organization, delegating tasks to other designers to ensure alignment and efficiency across the team.
Launch Readiness: Aligned design and product deliverables with sponsor requirements and partnership deadlines.
Metrics We Tracked
To measure success, we focused on:
User Engagement: Monthly active users and participation rates.
Referrals & Registrations: Growth through word-of-mouth and platform sign-ups.
User Growth: Tracking net active users to evaluate platform adoption.
Impact
PlayVS Stadium successfully launched with its first major event as the official Madden NFL 25 Youth Competition platform. The platform now serves as a scalable foundation for amateur esports, connecting players, teams, and brands in ways that weren’t possible within the constraints of scholastic esports.
As the Madden competition unfolds, we’re on track to surpass key goals, including 1,000 user sign-ups across events. This milestone highlights Stadium’s growing potential to bring engaging competitions to a broader audience while delivering value to sponsors and partners.