‘Careers of tomorrow.’ William Peace University in NC launches new e-sports degree
William Peace University, a private liberal arts college in Raleigh, said this week it plans to add E-Sports and Gaming Administration to its degree offerings.
The move comes as the video-game industry takes a more prominent role in the Triangle’s economy and e-sports, in general, grows at a rapid pace.
E-sports is no longer a niche field, and it’s video game tournaments often are broadcast on ESPN these days. Among millennials and Generation Z, watching others play video games has become a common pastime, with millions of people tuning into video-game streaming services like Twitch.
And while video game viewership grows, traditional sporting events are seeing a decline in interest during the pandemic, The Washington Post reported.
Roger Christman, chair of Peace’s Department of Art, Communications and Simulation and Game Design, said there’s been a paradigm shift in the interests of younger generations.
“I asked a class informally the other day, ‘How many of you watched the Super Bowl?’ And it was less than 50% that raised their hands,” he said in a telephone interview. “That viewership is declining but e-sports is growing dramatically.”
The e-sports degree will kick off this fall semester, and it will include classes in everything from marketing, computer science, sports psychology and accounting, among other courses.
Christman said the goal is to have 25 seniors graduating from the program within five years.
“It is just so clear to me that this is going to be a growing field and a growing need,” Christman said of e-sports. “Our job is to prepare our students for the careers of tomorrow.”
Triangle connections to e-sports
Revenue from e-sports grew to $1.1 billion in 2020, up 15.7% from 2019, according to market research firm Newzoo. And that number is expected to grow, with Data Bridge Market Research forecasting revenues of $4.28 billion by 2027.
The pandemic turned out to be a great business opportunity for the video game industry, with so many people staying at home. In December, $12 billion was spent on video games worldwide, the highest total ever, according to Super Data, a company that tracks the industry.
You don’t have to look far from Raleigh to see how lucrative the video-game market can be. In Cary, Epic Games is building a huge business empire around the success of its game, Fortnite, and its visualization tool, Unreal Engine.
The company, which recently bought Cary Towne Center to turn it into a new headquarters, sports a valuation of more than $17 billion.
Founded in 1857, Peace University’s campus is located in downtown Raleigh and enrolls around 1,000 students. Until 2012, the school was women’s only, but in 2020, 52% of its traditional undegrad class was male, a spokeswoman for the university said.
In addition to the E-Sports and Gaming Administration degree, Peace announced it also will add degrees for interactive design and human resource management.
Christman said he believes the offering — along with simulation and game design — will help Peace attract prospective students it might not have in the past.
“The 16-, 17-year-olds, they know e-sports. They understand it,” he said. “We can attract them and we can bring them here. Through that four-year process, we can educate them and help them get out there and be a leader.”
This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. Learn more; go to bit.ly/newsinnovate
