“Have the openness to look at something and say, just because it’s a new industry doesn’t mean that it doesn’t deserve study.”
Episode 14 of Select+CT with Kenneth Thompson, UConn, Joshua Steffenson, Manchester Public School, & Jason Chung, University of New Haven
Did you know you can make a living by playing video games? E-sports has had “incredible growth” according to research done by Influencer Marketing Hub. Jason Chung, who runs the E-sports business program at the University of New Haven. In an episode of the Select+CT podcast, he explained how you can make a living off of playing video games. Read on to find out more!
To clarify, E-sports is just a fancy term for video game tournaments. The first (known) video game tournament occurred back in 1972 at Stanford University in California. Since then, E-sports have incentivized people in various countries to set up Internet cafes! Teens & young adults tend to play video games while downing too much caffeine, so this was perfect. Publishers quickly realized it was a way to increase fandoms in across their most popular titles.
See Also: Building CT’s Future
E-sports became a marketing tool for companies in the 1980s. Connecticut was actually one of the first states in the country to offer its students E-sports. “CT has an understanding of education that has been open for a long time,” said Jason Chung, University of New Haven.
In CT, Pre-K through 12 rank number 3 in better education across the United States. It is no surprise that Connecticut swept up E-sports as soon as it started gaining traction; it really is a great place to be. Many high schools even have their own website for E-sports, which you can check out here:
To clarify, when I said “playing video games”, I didn’t just mean starting a youtube channel to stream these tournaments. There are coaching positions, analyst roles, and opportunities for software developers, engineers, and SO many more ways to engage in this emerging field.
Featured Program
Taking place in even higher education, Sacred Heart University in Connecticut won the overall championship of the inaugural Connecticut E-sports showcase, which took place in April of 2021. Across four different games, SHU earned the most points from each. The university itself offers a BS in Game Design & Development, and they have a school of computer science and engineering! You can learn more about this program here.
DMCT Micro Credentials
If you are unsure of how your skills connect to Connecticut’s growing Digital Media industry, I encourage you to enroll in DMCT’s first micro-credential course, The Emerging Practitioner. I am a graduate of the program and learned many things to assist my transition from University to a Career in CT and beyond!