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College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management

  • An instructor stands at the front of the esports laboratory giving a lecture to students.

Esports Laboratory

Esports — organized video game competitions — is one of the fastest growing segments of the sport and technological sectors. Esports is now a multi-billion dollar industry with hundreds of millions of participants and viewers around the world, including at the professional, collegiate, and scholastic levels.

The Esports Laboratory at the University of South Carolina is an innovative, transformative, and inclusive space dedicated to the advancement of esports education and research. Our facilities provide a unique learning environment that blends teaching, research, and practice to enhance the development of knowledge and best practices in esports.

As part of our mission, we provide and are engaged in the following esports services:

  • Educational services
  • Collaborative projects with industry partners
  • Community and team building
  • Multidisciplinary research studies
  • Grants and funded projects
  • Esports event planning and management

If you are interested in our services or collaborating with the team, please email Nick Watanabe, Ph.D., at nmwatana@mailbox.sc.edu

Faculty Lab Members


Research Publication Highlights


Course Offerings Related to Esports

This course is designed to provide students with an overview of the business of esports. It will focus on the history of video games from creation to the present and will also cover the various business elements of the modern, competitive esports environment.

  • A student sits in front of a computer in the Esports Lab playing a video game.
  • A student sits in front of a computer in the Esports Lab playing a video game.

 


Challenge the conventional. Create the exceptional. No Limits.