Limestone Announces Launch Of eSports Program Starting This Fall

The burgeoning sport of competitive gaming, otherwise known as eSports, is coming to Limestone College at the start of the Fall Term for the upcoming 2020-2021 academic year.

Limestone, which will move to university status in July, is expected to announce the hiring of its first eSports coach within the next week.

In making the leap into the popular eSports arena, Limestone is one of only a handful of institutions across the state to offer the sport. Electronic sports have enjoyed phenomenal growth in recent years, due in part to the success of games like Fortnite, League of Legends, and Call of Duty. Colleges and universities across the country are now getting into the game with club and varsity eSports programs.

“From offering college degree opportunities to women in the 1800s, to establishing evening degree programs for working adults in the 1970s, to being a leader in online degree paths in the 1990s, Limestone has always been at the forefront in higher education,” said the College’s Vice President for Finance and Administration Reggie Browning. “Adding eSports is another way that Limestone is staying on the cutting edge when it comes to student recruitment opportunities. This is a perfect fit for us, and we’re excited about the doors this will open for us down the road as eSports continues to grow in the terms of competitors and spectators.”

Relying on real-time strategy, teamwork, mental agility, and multiplayer online battles, eSports appeals to a broad range of competitors with leagues running at the recreational, intercollegiate, and professional levels. Research by the Entertainment Software Association found that 150 million Americans play video games and 64 percent of American households have at least one person who plays video games at least three hours per week.

Browning added that the appeal of eSports will attract students to Limestone both nationally and globally, with a reported 2.2 billion active gamers worldwide.

Limestone’s eSports program will field at least one team, and could feature multiple squads, depending on the interest level of students wishing to compete and seek gaming scholarships.

“This emerging sport will attract tech savvy students to Limestone’s academic program,” said Provost Dr. Monica Baloga. “This is an innovative step for Limestone and we’re looking forward to building an excellent program for our current and future students.”

Baloga went on to explain that Limestone will work with its first coach to establish a state-of-the-art gaming lab and player lounge on campus. She noted that one of the benefits of adding eSports is that it does not come with the traditional expenses required to field a new intercollegiate varsity team. At the same time, she said eSports are very inclusive and attract a wide variety of students seeking various types of degrees.

As announced last month, in addition to the new eSports program, Limestone will also begin offering in the fall of 2020 a new minor in Computer Game Programming to continue offering students expertise that will prepare them for future employment opportunities. From the Computer Game Programming minor at Limestone, students will learn programming concepts and create computer games using one of the popular game engines. The new minor will consist of seven courses (21 credit hours), all offered online, and will integrate well with any academic major. 

“Much like our Computer Game Programming minor, Limestone’s eSports program will appeal to students from diverse academic fields,” said Dr. Jane Watkins, Professor and Chair of Computer Science. “With its commitment to eSports, Limestone is now studying the possibility of this being a springboard to adding a Game Design major in the future. Our goal is to meet our students from all majors and academic areas where their interests are as they get ready to enter the job market.”

For more information about Limestone’s eSports program, contact Browning at rbrowning@limestone.edu.