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Colleges are starting degrees in esports, with $36,000 programs
- Global esports market is expected to surge to $1.1 billion this
year, up $230 million from 2018 on growth in sponsorships, merchandise
and ticket sales, according to Newzoo.
- The research firm expects the global esports audience to grow in
2019 to about 454 million as fans tune in on livestreaming platforms
such as Twitch and Microsoft’s Mixer.
On their first week in class, a group of students is playing a
first-person shooter video game in a sleek new digital studio. It’s
their introduction to the degree in esports they’ve enrolled in.
The group clicking away on their mice are at the University of
Staffordshire, one of several U.K. and U.S. schools launching programs
aimed at capitalizing on the booming industry’s need for skilled
professionals. In the U.S., colleges including Virginia’s Shenandoah
University, Becker College in Massachusetts and The Ohio State
University have debuted esports degrees.
Ryan Chapman, 18, said his parents were “skeptical at first” about studying esports, or competitive multiplayer videogaming.
“But now they understand how big the industry is growing, the pace
it’s growing at. They’re now really all for it because it’s a great
industry to start to get into,” said Chapman, who was among the students
in the lab playing Counter-Strike, one of the most popular esports
games.
The University of Staffordshire last year launched its bachelor’s and
master’s esports programs, in which students mainly learn marketing and
management skills tailored to the industry. This autumn, it’s expanding
the program to London while other schools are also debuting esports
degree courses, including Britain’s Chichester University. In Asia,
where esports has seen strong growth, schools in Singapore and China
offer courses.
It’s not only colleges that are adding esports to their curriculum. More than 100 high schools in the U.S. have launched dedicated esports programs alongside their traditional soccer and football teams.
And some colleges, like the University of California, Irvine, are giving top players scholarships to entice them to enroll, a privilege long reserved for premier athletes.
$1.1 billion market
The global esports market is expected to surge to $1.1 billion this
year, up $230 million from 2018 on growth in sponsorships, merchandise
and ticket sales, according to Newzoo. The research firm expects the
global esports audience to grow in 2019 to about 454 million as fans
tune in on livestreaming platforms such as Twitch and Microsoft’s Mixer.
Esports tournaments have become a cultural phenomenon and now rival
traditional sports events in size and scale. Big competitions are held
in arenas where thousands of fans watch big-name professional video
gamers compete for lucrative prize pools.
Esports leagues have franchises in North America, Europe and Asia.
The biggest names, such as Fortnite superstar Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, can
earn millions in prize money and livestreaming deals. Esports are even
set to be a medal event at the Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines
in November.
Varsity-level competitions
Dozens of U.S. colleges have offered varsity level esports
competitions for years. But some schools are taking it a step further by
adding courses as the industry’s boom drives demand for professionals
who know how to, for example, organize esports tournaments.
New niche degrees partly highlight the changing economy, but they
also reflect the “need to communicate to parents and students that there
will be a job waiting for someone once they earn a degree,” which may
include hefty tuition fees and student loans to pay for them, said Joni
Finney, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute for
Research on Higher Education.
She worried that some degrees are too specialized and that some schools are launching them to offset falling enrollment.
“It’s really up to the faculty of those institutions to step up and
say, ‘You know, a degree in business will cover these kinds of jobs,’
rather than saying we have a degree in a certain job category,” Finney
said.
More than games
Becker College formally launched its Bachelor of Science in esports
management this month after an initial “soft release” last year.
“It’s no longer kids playing games in their basement,” said Alan
Ritacco, dean of Becker College’s School of Design and Technology. The
top esports players now earn almost as much as the highest paid stars in
traditional sports like golf or tennis, he said.
The schools emphasize that their courses aren’t about just playing video games.
“People are unaware of the industry that goes behind esports,” said
Matt Huxley, a lecturer at Staffordshire University’s Digital Institute
London, a new outpost the university, near Birmingham, England, opened
so students could be closer to game companies in the British capital.
Huxley, who teaches a class on organizing tournaments, said learning about esports was akin to studying sports management.
“If you were to go and study to be a director of football you’re not
playing football, you’re learning the business behind how (player)
transfers work, how you run a stadium and all those kind of operational
things.”
A pro gamer lecturer
Chichester University hired former pro gamer Rams Singh, known as
R2K, as a senior lecturer for its program, which includes playing games
such as FIFA and League of Legends as part of the course.
Ohio State is poised to launch an esports and game studies
undergraduate major that will include the application of games to health
and medicine.
A business focus helps to ease worries among students and parents
about paying tuition for degrees that have no track record. In Britain,
standard tuition fees are set at 9,250 pounds ($11,430) a year while the
U.S. programs charge as much as $36,000 a year.
“There’s always going to be risks but I have zero regrets,” said
Ellis Celia, 26, who is also starting the Staffordshire course. The
industry “can only go up at this point,” she said.
Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/college-esports-universities-launch-degrees-in-esports/
