UC Irvine Announces eSports Initiative

UC Irvine announced earlier this week that it would be launching an eSports initiative. Supported by Riot Games, "a 3,500 square-foot esports arena equipped with 80 high-end gaming PCs" built by iBuyPower is being created as "a permanent home for gamers on campus." Additionally, there will be a stage made for hosting League of Legends competitions and even a live webcasting studio. They will be offering up "as many as 10 academic scholarships" to students that join their eSports team.

This is a surprising move and it will be interesting to see how it goes. As the first program of its kind, it will inevitably be somewhat of a test run. According to recent surveys, "72 percent [of students] identify as gamers and 89 percent support the creation of an e-sports team." With those numbers on their side, UC Irvine seems to be the perfect place to attempt a program like this.