University of California-Irvine will launch an e-sports program this fall with a new arena equipped with high-end gaming PCs, a staging area for League of Legends competitions, and a live webcasting studio at the Student Center.
The research university will offer as many as 10 academic scholarships for students on the competitive gaming team.
It will work through its Institute for Virtual Environments & Computer Games for the initiative. The Institute links multidisciplinary research projects in anthropology, art, computer science, engineering, history, medicine, psychology, science and technology.
A recent survey of UCI students indicated that 72% percent identify themselves as gamers and 89% support the creation of an e-sports team. College Magazine ranked UCI the No. 1 school for gamers last year, and its Association of Gamers boasts the highest membership of any student club on campus.
—Chris Casacchia
