The University of Suffolk will be offering undergraduate degrees in esports starting 2025. The course will cover topics such as “game design, esports event management, livestreaming, esports marketing, and analysis of competitive gameplay.”
As reported by the BBC, the curriculum is being developed in partnership with esports professionals, and Professor Stuart Harmer claims the degree will offer students “a much-needed pathway that allows them an important progression into Higher Education in this industry.”
The dean of the school of technology, business, and arts at Suffolk said, “We are thrilled to announce our plans to create one of the first esports undergraduate courses in the East of England”.
To help the students, the university has invested in an esports lab featuring high-spec gaming machines so that the university can host its own tournaments and events. The degree seems more focused on filling the supporting roles within esports, such as coaching and event planning, rather than actually producing esports athletes.
The focus on supporting roles within esports that are necessary for the industry to flourish will hopefully help students to launch their own careers without falling into the same traps many streamers do.
Twitch’s CEO recently said the platform isn’t profitable, saying: “We’ve implied this before where we say we need to run it sustainably but I’ll be blunt: we aren’t profitable at this point,” he confirmed. “Amazon has been extremely supportive of Twitch and a big thing for being sustainable over time is ensuring that we don’t lose money.”
Esports organisations are also struggling to stay afloat; Activision Blizzard left the Overwatch League in a dire state following layoffs in July 2023.
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