Educators, PESO see bright future for esports with academe support

MANILA, Philippines – Esports has been considered the sport of the youth, with the younger generation hoping to make a career out of professional gaming and even after their tenures as a pro player with many opportunities for different esports careers out there. 

But this mindset has not really sunk in for a lot of people, particularly in the older generation.

“Education is really important. Philippine esports is really big. If may Gilas sa basketball, may Sibol (the national esports team) sa esports. At a certain level, there is a disconnect between esports and education. What people see about esports [are] the glory and the prize pool. They don’t see certain values that esports has, which is parallel to traditional sports and other careers,” said Philippine Esports Organization (PESO) executive director Marlon Marcelo.

Such disconnect is what Dark League Studious’ Estudyante Esports Program hopes to remedy with its academic initiatives, partnering with different schools to increase awareness on esports and the different career opportunities it can provide students.

“Pag ikaw isang estudyante at pinag-aaralan mo yung gusto mo, yung pinagaaral mo nagiging madali. That’s best combination you can get. Find your passion and you can really contribute to society. Sa isang esports tournament, usually ang bida is yung champion. Ang ‘di natin nakikita, yung mga nasa back end. Merong coaches, analysts, designers, director, at marami pang iba. If universities can find a way to support the passion of our students, then that’s a very good collaborations,” said Estudyante Esports program director Alexander “Deng” Kibanoff.

One of the first schools to accept the potential of esports is the Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU), which now offers the country’s first bachelor’s degree in esports.

“If you look at the ecosystem of esports, you will see a lot of careers. LPU is driven by the goal of meeting the needs of the industry. We are driven by our passion to innovate education and catering to the interest of the students,” shared Dr. Arlene Caballero, Dean College of Technology, LPU.

Caballero hopes that more universities will follow and see the future that esports can