Following the news of Fortnite players being offered University scholarships, Alexey Burdyko – CEO of Play2Live – shares his thoughts on the rise of eSports Scholarhsips. Play2Live platform introduces a full-blown ecosystem for eSports and gaming with a deep focus on content generation and practical needs of streamers and viewers, providing unique interactive opportunities for all participants of the ecosystem – eSports tournament organizers, the streamers and the viewers.
“This does not come as a surprise. The video game and eSports market is booming, with the global market for video games already surpassing the film industry, topping $105 billion in 2017. I’m more surprised that this hadn’t happened sooner due to the significant popularity and wide appeal that video games and eSports has garnered in the last decade. ESports has now become mainstream in today’s society with even football teams such as Barcelona and Manchester United having recognised its potential and acquired a number of eSports teams.
“It is great to finally see educational systems seeing the advantages of video games and eSports. With the United States establishing the National Association of Collegiate eSports in 2016, students can receive scholarships and contribute to this booming market with millions of viewers. For example the Worlds League of Legends tournament in 2016 gathered 43 million viewers, more than the US viewership of the NBA Finals at only 20 million. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction of increasing the popularity of eSports and encouraging more Universities to invest in eSports.”
