Have you ever wanted to go to eSports school but don’t live in Brazil? Well good news for you! Riot Games has a program called uLoL (University League of Legends). They aim to help their college clubs organize College eSports events and tournaments for its popular multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA).
According to everyone’s favorite SuperData Research, the game pulled in $1.6 billion in revenue, so obviously Riot has the cash to afford it. Riot Games’ director of business development and publishing, Sean Haran, explained to rushhourdaily.com eSports’s Taylor Cocke that the uLoL program was important for both the company and the game because of Riot’s community focus. Doing uLoL helps college players form communities within their colleges who play the same game they do. Haran compared this to the NCAA tournaments and gives players a platform to express themselves.
While some clubs have no more than six members, the UC Irvine club has 2,000 members. Despite this astronomical difference, Riot works with all the clubs, no matter the size. Riot also pride themselves in not using ads and letting the program grow on its own.
While the generic stereotype might put some people off, Haran said that the average club member “is a STEM major, has a full-time job, and [carries] a good GPA.” Not only that, but they’re also active in their local community. “That’s the story that we’re trying to tell, noting that these are the students that can help make our country great.”
ULoL has 300 clubs in North America, and it is growing every day. According to Haran, it’s not about creating the most competitive LoL league. It’s about maintaining authenticity and giving college kids a chance to get to know each other, and form groups that share the same interests that they do.
Of course, there are also other companies like this. While GamesAcademy is, again, Brazilian and The National Collegiate eSports Association is more of a College eSports tournament organizer, Riot was in no way the first to come up with this. Just so you know.
