Fortress Sydney, an impressive gaming venue that includes two bars, an arcade, a PC gaming lounge and an esports arena, is opening over Easter, and powering its NBN and connectivity is none other than Telstra.
Telstra has been working with Fortress for a while – it was one of the original partners back in 2020 during Fortress Melbourne’s first year, alongside Dell (through its Alienware gaming-oriented subsidiary).
But now Fortress is opening up a second store, and Telstra’s sticking with the gaming venue as one of its major partners – to the extent that the PC gaming area, where Sydney customers can come in and play any game they want on a high-performance Alienware PC, is called the Telstra Lounge.
It’s packed with dozens of Alienware computers with Nvidia RTX 3080 graphics cards and Intel i9 processors, and when the doors to the venue open, you’ll be able to book time with the computers online in hourly blocks (with a minimum of two hours, with a price to be confirmed). There are also two streaming booths, too.
“For us, there is this level of trying to be authentic. And so, just rocking up and sticking our logo over stuff has a bad smell to it. So it was kind of like – how do you play a role and how do we collaborate,” Telstra’s executive of energy, home and entertainment Nathan Gumley told Gizmodo Australia about the partnership.
“I think for me, it was kind of – looking at this angle of what can we do that genuinely has an impact.”
In launching its Xbox All Access offering, Fortress lent a hand with research, but the telco’s partnership also saw Gumley bring in Fortress for a little help with fostering “awesome” internal employee online gaming tournaments.
It’s worth noting that Fortress Sydney is only some blocks from the Sydney International Exchange, from where Australian internet traffic routes to the rest of the world. Being this close to the exchange, it’s difficult to imagine the internet quality at Fortress being anything below average – and with Telstra’s help it might just be so good that it gets you PC gaming outside of your home.
Fortress Sydney opens on Saturday, April 8. It’s located in Central Park shopping centre (the building covered in plants), across the road from UTS and just a short walk from Central Station in Sydney.