Rising Esports at the College Level  

    Esports were introduced into schools in 2009, clubs and small tournaments for local players only. As far as 2016 only seven educational institutions had registered varsity esports teams. 

Now as the scene grows more and more the industry continues to become fruitful. With scholarships available and a chance for exposure to some bigger professional organizations. College athletics have started taking esports more seriously. Creation of conferences and close workings with developers to organize tournaments and events. These components can be an explanation for the bump in viewership numbers. 

Locally,  Buffalo Universities have taken stride with esports steadily increasing in community participation. Expanding clubs can be a difficult challenge, this year Buffalo State registered for the ECAC esports conference.

Speaking with one Buffalo State esports league administrator named KJ Zielezinski, “This year marked the first season that we branched out into another league, alongside SUNY.” Adding that registering for ECAC is also a strategy to allow teams to seek a higher level of competition. 

He has been a member of Buffalo State esports since his first semester at Buffalo State in 2020. Signing up the day he got an email, announcing the club to newcomers in the fall. That being a theme for the club in its early days, “There's always been a trend where we get a lot of newcomers in the Fall semester, and see a lot of people leave in the Spring.” The reasons for this vary, from time commitment to college transfers. Finding new ways to get people involved is an obvious major step for any program. 

Hosting in person events is a new avenue for Buffalo State Esports, starting in spring 2022. Though Covid-19 had a hand in stopping implementation of live events sooner. KJ added since then they have expanded titles featured for live tournaments as well to games such as Madden and Mario Kart. 

This would eventually bring us around to the Dota question. Expansion of the industry as a whole is always a great thing with multiple popular genres like Mobas leading the way. An outside analysis could see the industry expanding wide but not necessarily tall. Reaching out to sports games and even card games such as Hearthstone leaves less room for branching into the same genres. Take Dota for an example, because League of Legends is a massive game kickstarting competitive Dota could already alienate the audience. From another perspective it could be an unseen advantage if there is overlap from one Moba to another. 

A perfect example of this working, Counter Strike Global Offensive and Valorant both of the round based FPS realm. Coincidentally the developers of these games are the same for Dota and LOL. Valve and Riot games have a long standing rivalry that ensures great competition, the flagship titles Dota, CS GO and LOL, Valorant respectively. All games mentioned have massive followings but are able to grow because the product quality is wonderful. The competition of the companies creates a one upmanship market, consistently growing competitive scenes and of course adding content to the title. 

Expanding the lens outside of university, and returning to the theme of esports expansion. More and more companies see the potential in a growing field. Zenith Point an up and coming esports organization has set goals beyond just professional gaming. An element of entertainment and league hosting combined with content creation and competitive gaming.

The LLC Zenith Point is owned and managed by an individual that goes by Azarak. “I kinda fell into it. I was always into video games, but when I was exploring a Discord server, I found that one org was looking for a manager for their Halo team.” Prior to branching off, Azarak started in Halo, quickly pivoting to another organization serving as the Chief Operating Officer and from this on to Zenith. 

Mapping out the org, teams in a multitude of games ranging from Rocket League to Super Smash Bros. The foundation has been set for growth “I have a collegiate league I’m working on for Valorant, that is also managed entirely by me, but I’ll definitely need staff and mods when it starts.” Expanding borders bring opportunity for sponsorship and affiliation, an important aspect of a brand. Starting any business is anything but easy. But, with time and effort a roadmap has been paved leading the way to an opportunity that not many get. 

In correct management of these factors esports has been on a steady incline for the past decade or so. Clubs at colleges and new companies continue to fuel the flames of esports paving the way for the next generation of gamers finding their way through the industry. In an ever so expanding entertainment complex esports has carved a niche and chips away, sometimes crossing into the mainstream for a bathe in the limelight.