In the past half-decade, eSports has snuck up and become a more popular event than anyone could have predicted.
Newzoo - which is the leading provider on market intelligence eSports, global games, and mobile markets - has reported that in November of 2018 almost 100 million viewers partook in watching the broadcast of the
League of Legends World Championship online from South Korea. That number slightly beats the 98 million viewers of the Super Bowl only three months earlier, and that has long been considered one of the most tuned-into events.
Seton Hall University recognizes the massive increase in interest being shown in the medium of gaming, especially in that of eSports, creating opportunities for their students as well as job opportunities in the field of gaming. The University recently completed construction on a state-of-the-art computer lab and esports facility with dedicated and optimized computers for students' recreational and competitive use.
This esports and gaming lounge is located in Jubilee Hall on the fifth floor and contains 33 desktop computers, 16 of which are game-ready and dedicated to gaming with
Overwatch, Rocket League and
League of Legends already installed, with gaming chairs, mice, keyboards and headsets and six monitors with the capability to project what's displayed on any of the 16 gaming desktops throughout the room.
In the esports facility, gamers also have access to consoles: Microsoft Xbox One, Sony Playstation 4 and Nintendo Switch. Although the facility will be used by Seton Hall's gaming teams for team practice and Big East tournaments, it is open to students at times throughout the week.
Professor Derek Larson of the College of Communication and the Arts had the following to say.
"I look forward to my students creating and displaying their games in the new lab, as well as hosting a small game developers conference in the near future with studios from New Jersey and New York City."
What are your thoughts about Seton's upgrades to their facility? Let us know in the comments below!
One of the country’s leading Catholic universities, Seton Hall has been showing the world what great minds can do since 1856. Home to nearly 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students and offering more than 90 rigorous academic programs, Seton Hall’s academic excellence has been singled out for distinction by The Princeton Review, U.S. News & World Report and Bloomberg Businessweek.
Seton Hall embraces students of all religions and prepares them to be exemplary servant leaders and global citizens. In recent years, the University has achieved extraordinary success. Since 2009, it has seen record-breaking undergraduate enrollment growth and an impressive 110-point increase in the average SAT scores of incoming freshmen. In the past decade, Seton Hall students and alumni have received more than 30 Fulbright Scholarships as well as other prestigious academic honors, including Boren Awards, Pickering Fellowships, Udall Scholarships and a Rhodes Scholarship. The University is also proud to be the third most diverse national Catholic university in the nation.
During the past five years, the University has invested more than $165 million in new campus buildings and renovations. And in 2015, Seton Hall launched a School of Medicine as well as a College of Communication and the Arts. The University’s beautiful main campus in suburban South Orange, N.J. is only 14 miles from New York City — offering students a wealth of employment, internship, cultural and entertainment opportunities. Seton Hall’s nationally recognized School of Law is located prominently in downtown Newark. The University’s Interprofessional Health Sciences (IHS) campus in Clifton and Nutley, N.J. opened in the summer of 2018. The IHS campus houses the University’s College of Nursing, School of Health and Medical Sciences and the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University.