Sujoy Roy (born September 1975) is a former professional online gamer based in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. He lives in Camden, Central London. While studying at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

, Roy started playing the computer game ''Quake'' online against other players, and found that he had quite an aptitude for the game. Through an online server, he found that he was one of the best players in Europe. He spent many hours online, making full use of the high-speed 'JANET' connection Universities were graced with (offering a stable ~20 ping), and competed with clan Demonic Core. He is also credited with discovering how to rocketjump out of deep lava on the Quake 1 level DM4, a demo of him performing this move spread quickly around the Quake community and is now a common move in many FPS games. In the days before

broadband In telecommunications, broadband is wide bandwidth data transmission which transports multiple signals at a wide range of frequencies and Internet traffic types, that enables messages to be sent simultaneously, used in fast internet connections. ...

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

was available, he installed an

ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is a set of communication standards for simultaneous digital transmission of voice, video, data, and other network services over the digitalised circuits of the public switched telephone network. Work ...

line in his bedroom to improve his online performance. Roy graduated from Cambridge University with an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

Natural Sciences Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

. After graduating from Cambridge, he took up a job at the merchant bank,

JP Morgan JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in City of New York, New York City and Delaware General Corporation Law, inco ...

, working on

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

's Wall Street, and regularly being shuttled between London and New York City. Sujoy has appeared on many TV programmes on the main United Kingdom networks and satellite channels. He has also been interviewed by major

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...

s and magazines, including the

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...

and Sunday Times, as well as many computer magazines. Sponsorships and endorsements included the

Razer Razer may refer to: * Razer (Canadian TV channel), former name of MTV2, a Canadian digital television specialty service * Razer Inc., a Singaporean-American computer peripherals manufacturer specializing in PC gaming * Razer Phone, a smartphone desi ...

Boomslang mouse, probably the first mouse designed for online gamers. Sujoy had this mouse custom painted with the

Union Jack The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...

by a

motorcycle helmet A motorcycle helmet is a type of helmet used by motorcycle riders. Motorcycle helmets contribute to motorcycle safety by protecting the rider's head in the event of an impact. They reduce the risk of head injury by 69% and the risk of death by 42% ...

artist, and it was a signature item at tournaments in which he competed. UnionFlag RazerMouse

Sujoy retired from online gaming in 2001–2002 following the

dotcom crash The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Compos ...

and set about organising multiplayer tournaments in the UK. Along with business partner, Dominic Mulroy, Sujoy helped found the VGA (Virtual Gaming Alliance), an organisation of internet gaming centres throughout the United Kingdom. Sujoy founded two Multiplayer Lan Gaming Centres named after his community website ESReality, one in Harrow, West London and the other in Maidenhead, Berks. In 2006, with the release of

Quake 4 ''Quake 4'' is a 2005 military science fiction first-person shooter video game developed by Raven Software and published by Activision. It is the fourth title in the ''Quake'' series, after the multiplayer ''Quake III Arena'', and a sequel to ' ...

Sujoy briefly returned to compete at several competitions. However, success proved elusive and he slipped back into retirement shortly after. In 2008 Sujoy was involved in launching Omega Sektor and managed the London Mint professional gaming team that competed in the

Championship Gaming Series The Championship Gaming Series was an international esports league based in the United States, with teams from several other countries. The CGS was preceded by the 2006 Championship Gaming Invitational, a television pilot featuring several fu ...

. In December 2007 Sujoy launched Gamerbase, a gaming centre located within the

HMV Sunrise Records and Entertainment, trading as HMV (for His Master's Voice), is a British music and entertainment retailer, currently operating exclusively in the United Kingdom. The first HMV-branded store was opened by the Gramophone Company ...

store at the London Trocadero in Piccadilly Circus. Gamerbase was acquired by the high street entertainment chain, HMV, in October 2008 and Sujoy subsequently joined

in a managerial capacity to oversee the technical aspects of Gamerbase. Gamerbase won the Retail Innovation award in 2009 from MCV, the leading UK video games trade magazine. Sujoy has opened three further Gamerbase stores in the UK inside HMV stores in Manchester, Glasgow and Reading.

Notes

External links

*
An interview with Sujoy RoyBBC Report about Sujoy Roy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roy, Sujoy 1975 births Quake (series) players English businesspeople Alumni of the University of Cambridge People from the London Borough of Camden Living people English esports players Game players from London