Sayan Tarafder is Esports Strategist at TANCHES.GG, the esports division of TanChes Global Management, a Houston-based IT and infrastructure firm with over 28 years in the industry. TANCHES.GG designs and builds esports ecosystems from the ground up — for schools, universities, and commercial environments alike.
Tell us about TANCHES.GG and how you approach esports
We approach esports like any other high-performance environment. It’s not just about the hardware in the room — it’s about the infrastructure behind it. Networking, compute, AV, and the overall design of the space to support how it’s actually used. We work across K-12, higher education, and commercial environments. Some clients want a competitive esports space, others want a multi-use STEM environment, and some are building full-scale tournament-ready arenas. Our role is to design and deliver something that fits their goals and performs the way it should.
What’s TANCHES.GG’s biggest contribution to esports?
Honestly, it’s not a gadget — it’s a habit from the enterprise world that this industry mostly skips. Most esports rooms get built like a gaming purchase or an AV project. Someone buys the PCs, mounts the screens, and everyone moves on. What we introduced is the idea that an esports space is real infrastructure and should be treated like it — enterprise-level cybersecurity and managed service baked in from day one, not bolted on later. A space that’s fast and secure on launch day doesn’t stay that way on its own.
What technological advancement are you most excited about for the industry?
Cloud and edge compute — it’s not the flashiest answer, but it matters most for where esports is headed. Building an esports space has traditionally meant a room full of expensive machines aging out every few years, which makes these facilities hard to justify for schools and community programs on tight budgets. When the heavy lifting lives centrally and streams to lighter endpoints, a facility stops being forty machines to babysit and becomes one system to manage. That lowers the barrier to entry significantly — and that’s what gets esports into the communities that want in but can’t carry the traditional cost.
After a year as an ESTA member, what’s been the value?
The biggest value is access to the broader ecosystem. Esports is still evolving, and no single company has everything figured out. Being connected to program directors, technology providers, and event organizers keeps us aligned with what’s actually happening on the ground. It also opens doors to partnerships that wouldn’t happen otherwise — a lot of esports projects require multiple pieces coming together, and this network makes it easier to connect the right people.
