Climbing up the Careers League

WHITE PAPER

Esports in Education

Climbing Up The Careers League

How Intel is powering the esports talent pipeline

Authors The Evolution of esports: An Introduction

S Gillingham. Want to know about the multi-million pound phenomenon that's cutting a swathe Gaming & esports Lead through a whole raft of industries and opening up career opportunities that simply Intel UK didn't exist ten years ago? Then read on. As we kick off a new decade, esports is an unstoppable juggernaut turbo- M .Broom charging industries from broadcasting to event management, audio visual to Marketing Manager digital marketing. And the engine room of that juggernaut is the academic world Intel UK – universities, colleges and schools. So, if you're working in education, dismiss esports at your peril. Because not only is esports offering students of all ages new and fascinating career opportunities, it's also becoming an increasingly influential factor for anyone choosing their next academic destination. It's important to understand the sheer scale of esports. The gaming industry is now bigger than the music industry and movie industry combined1 and esports is the world’s fastest-growing spectator sport, capturing the attention of 2 billion people globally and an estimated spend of $45 billion2; there are 38 million3 gamers in the UK with an esports audience of 8 million4 and professional esports players earn lucrative salaries and compete for huge prize money at large stadia tournaments across the globe. Right at the centre of this growth is ESL, powered by Intel. Founded in 2000, it has developed into the world’s largest esports company leading the industry across the most popular video games with numerous online and offline competitions. It operates high profile, branded international leagues and tournaments such as Intel Extreme Masters, ESL One, ESL Pro Tour, ESL Pro League, and other top tier stadium-size events, as well as ESL National Championships, grassroots amateur cups and matchmaking systems. Intel Extreme Masters, the world's longest-running and most prestigious esports tournament series, attracts a live audience of 174,000 people in Katowice, Poland, with 43 million watching online over a two week period plus a total of 250 million video views. It’s worth remembering that the first ever Intel Extreme Masters back in 2006 was attended by just 500 people. So, esports is a booming industry and it’s only heading in one direction. But in order to support its upward trajectory it needs a structured talent pipeline to Table of Contents nurture and sustain this growth and, as UK Intel Gaming & esports Lead Scott The Evolution of esports...... 1 Gillingham explains, the education system is the beating heart of this pipeline: “We are at a major tipping point here. esports is accelerating at a rapid pace History Lesson...... 2 and one of the key growth areas is education. I’m not talking about colleges and An esports Education...... 2 1 BBC News 2 DFC Intelligence 3 Newzoo Final Score...... 4 4 Newzoo White Paper | Climbing Up The Careers League universities producing great gamers, this is about unlocking university esports championship. In its first year of operation new and diverse career opportunities connected to the (2018) the organisation planned for 300 teams to take esports ecosystem. To put on an esports tournament you part across six different games – they got 600. By 2019 it had need the kit – everything from gaming PCs and servers, to grown to over 1000 teams. It’s growing and growing fast as networking infrastructure, staging and AV. But what you Executive Director Jon Tilbury explains: “University esports really need are the right skills and the explosion in esports is the biggest category of esports in the country in terms in schools, universities and beyond is giving students the of participation. We had over 85 universities compete opportunity to develop new and transferable skills which can last season and 13,000 verified students on our digital give them a flying start to their careers. community platform (nse.gg).” “This is exactly why we’re working closely with ESL, NSE, The What’s really interesting is the demographic – NSE want to use NUEL and Digital Schoolhouse to help nurture this talent and esports to support recruitment for the technology industry open up opportunities for students to develop their expertise because its research revealed that 74 per cent of university in gaming, broadcasting and shoutcasting [commentary], esports participants are STEM students which means, based audio-visual, team management and other associated skills. on the overall student baseline, esports players are twice as esports is at the forefront of many of these skills and is a likely to be STEM students versus other students. Moreover, great proving ground for students looking to expand their esports players are almost six times as likely to study horizons in the careers market.” Computer Science – compared to a general baseline of 5-6 per cent of students, the survey found that 28 per cent of players As part of the evolution of esports, it's important that currently study Computer Science. Tilbury continues: “What all stakeholder organisations work with communities to we’ve now proven is a connection between an interest in ensure we continue to move in the right direction and take esports and an interest in science – this creates an exciting appropriate steps to address challenges such as screen time platform for NSE to work with industry to leverage esports as a and safety. means of accessing and developing future technology sector leaders." History Lesson: Intel’s esports Story “Crucially, there are a whole host of transferable skills which can set students up for successful careers in the world This is no overnight success story – Intel has been working of gaming and beyond. While the facilitation of social gaming with key partners to get to this point for almost two decades. is becoming an essential marker of student satisfaction in Intel Extreme Masters was first established with ESL in 2006 Higher Education, it is simultaneously improving post and has grown from strength to strength, resulting in the graduation employment prospects for the student leaders 2018 announcement to extend the global partnership until embracing it. This is great news for universities as it allows 2021 with the pledge of $100 million investment to shape the them to improve key measures of success while engaging with future landscape of esports through innovative technology, a broad and diverse group of students. Our community are tournaments and events. passionate, purpose driven, and nothing gives us more Intel’s partnership with ESL is a cornerstone of the pleasure than providing a competitive social experience for esports ecosystem brimming with high profile leagues and them that delivers life long benefits.” tournaments, including the recently launched $1 million The NUEL Intel Grand Slam, and the one thing all of these events have in common is that they are helping to grow the esports worldwide audience. However, as we look to the future, Intel Meanwhile, The NUEL has been running tournaments and on- is increasingly working with partner organisations to unlock campus activities since 2010. Though initially focused on the opportunities that the education system can provide. creating a space for students to compete in video games, it has evolved over the last five years. “We are now also looking An esports Education: Meet the Key UK at how we can help students get more involved in the creative side of the industry and helping prepare and develop Players themselves so they can go and work in the esports industry or use the skills they have developed to work in another So, it’s clear that esports has a huge amount to offer those industry,” explains Josh Williams, The NUEL Founder and MD. who want to explore its brave new world. But how do academic institutions go about tapping into this rich seam of In less than a decade The NUEL’s tournaments have grown opportunity? from 10 teams to over 1,000 teams across the country – with up to 7,000 students competing each week and over The simple answer is by working with an experienced 2 million viewers supporting them on Twitch*. Currently, it network of organisations already making huge inroads in this runs 10 different games across a variety of genres, including space. Step forward Intel partners NSE (National Student big esports titles like League of Legends*, Overwatch*, Esports) and The NUEL (National University Esports League), Counter-Strike* and Rainbow Six*. The NUEL works with Intel plus not-for-profit programme Digital Schoolhouse, for which to provide students with the resources to create their own additional support is provided. This trio of organisations events that enable them not only to create engaging make the esports education ecosystem tick. experiences, but also gain real-world experiences to develop NSE skills that help with their future careers – from project management, to marketing and broadcasting. Let’s start with NSE, who in partnership with BUCS, the “There’s a lot of talented and very passionate people coming governing body for university sport, run the official inter- out of university that really care about esports. What we White Paper | Climbing Up The Careers League really focus on is trying to give students real-world valuable CDW experience and knowledge that will help them to make the transition from studying to working as a professional in Of course, to achieve this, the right technology needs to be the industry,” Williams added. “That’s why we spend a lot in place to power the esports ecosystem, which is where of time working with the universities and student societies one of Intel’s partners, CDW comes in. Gillingham explains: on campuses, because they’re really the backbone of the “Intel powers esports from end-to-end – we are driving the university community.” best possible esports experience through Intel® Core™ i7 and Digital Schoolhouse Core™ i9 processors alongside Intel® Xeon® powered servers and storage devices but in the very near future we see an ever-growing role in esports for AI and 5G. Watch this space.” A similar movement is happening at the younger end of the education spectrum. Ukie’s Digital Schoolhouse was Industry-leading technology solutions provider CDW is established five years ago to support and inspire both crucial to delivery in the education space. Whether a school teachers and students. It does this through its network or university is rolling out a handful of gaming stations of secondary schools that serve as digital hubs, or or building out a 150-seat esports arena, CDW’s experts ‘schoolhouses’, for other schools to visit. These sessions can outfit educational spaces with the latest gaming PCs include everything from showcasing the latest academic and accessories, perform network capacity and speed research to hosting industry experts and digital skills assessments and upgrades. They can also design a gaming workshops. room layout to account for ergonomic player seating and a fun spectator experience. CDW also offers invaluable esports offers a real-world opportunity for students to consultation services, providing assessments of existing IT develop their digital skills. “For us, the esports tournament is infrastructure and evaluations of its suitability for supporting an experience through which we deliver careers education,” esports – making tailored recommendations on upgrades said Digital Schoolhouse Director Shahneila Saeed. “esports and investments. is the hook to get everybody engaged, but the primary focus is the careers education.” Final Score Digital Schoolhouse puts pupils at the heart of the action by creating an esports tournament with three stages – the As we head into a new decade of accelerated digital school heats, the regional qualifiers and the grand final. They transformation, it’s clear that esports is here to stay and recruit players and team members with ‘job descriptions’ that the opportunities it creates are only going to increase. for the likes of community managers, team managers, Nowhere is this more the case than in the education space – production crew and shoutcasters. In 2016 just four schools and, at the very least, academic institutions need to consider took part – in the current academic year there are 69 schools their approach. and up to 6,000 pupils. As Intel’s Gillingham points out, esports is in its very early Saeed said: “My rationale is this: students can’t aspire to stages so there’s a lot to learn and huge potential. When you careers they don’t know exist. For us, it’s about opening the consider that screen time and online safety have been raised door of opportunity for these students. Whether they choose as areas of concern, particularly with younger students, the to step through it or not is their choice but at least they know potential looks even greater – provided that the industry that door exists, and they know what’s on the other side.” works with teachers, parents and institutions to help support This sentiment is echoed by Intel’s Gillingham, himself a keen guidance and implementation approaches that can overcome gamer: “We are not here to create the best gamers. We are these challenges. As thousands of students gravitate towards here to help people graduate from the education system esports, now is the time to get in the game. with the right skills to support both the esports and other Ready to play? industries – valuable skills but also transferable skills.” Learn more For more information about NSE, visit www.nse.gg

For more information about The NUEL, visit www.thenuel.com

For more information about Digital Schoolhouse, visit www.digitalschoolhouse.org.uk/esports

For more information about CDW, visit www.uk.cdw.com

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