ESPN to launch its own collegiate video game sports championship

Capcom

12/03/2019 19:52

By Hilary Russ
    NEW YORK, March 12 (Reuters) - ESPN will hold its first ever
college championship for competitive video gaming later this
year, the TV sports network  said on Tuesday, a high-profile
esports event aimed at younger fans who spend more time with
game controllers than baseball bats or hockey sticks.
    ESPN Events, a unit of Walt Disney Co's  DIS.N  cable sports
network that also produces a lineup of other sports events such
as the Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl, will produce the
Collegiate Esports Championship (CEC). 
    The showdown will be held in Houston at Comicpalooza at the
George R. Brown Convention Center in May. Players will compete
in five games: Overwatch, Hearthstone, StarCraft II, Heroes of
the Storm and Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition. 
    Street Fighter is made by Japan's Capcom Co Ltd  9697.T ;
the other featured games were developed by Blizzard
Entertainment, a division of Activision Blizzard Inc  ATVI.O .
    As professional esports tournaments have expanded in the
last couple of years, so too have college-level games, with
schools developing their own competitive teams as they would for
traditional sports.
    Schools like the University of Nevada, Las Vegas now offer
esports labs and course work, and the University of California
at Irvine even has its own esports arena and summer camp.       
    "As universities continue to grow their esports programs at
the varsity, non-varsity and club levels, we're proud to be
providing a platform for national exposure and recognition of
some of the most talented players in the collegiate space," said
John Lasker, vice president of ESPN's Digital Media Programming,
in a statement.    
    The CEC will also become Overwatch's only collegiate
championship. Prizes will be in the form of college
scholarships, ESPN said.
    Players will come from the hundreds of North American
schools currently competing in qualifying matches hosted by
Collegiate Starleague and Tespa.
    Portions of the qualifying rounds, as well as the
championship, will be streamed globally, with ESPN to announce
later which platforms it will use.
    The Overwatch matches in particular will also shown on the
livestreaming video platform Twitch, owned by Amazon.com Inc.
 AMZN.O 

 (Reporting by Hilary Russ; Editing by David Gregorio)
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