There’s a college scholarship for talented ‘Overwatch’ players
Forget play of the game, this is what you want to aim for.
If you've ever thought that your Overwatch plays were a fine art worthy of college recognition, then it looks like your dreams may have just been answered. After introducing a League Of Legends scholarship last year, The University of California Irvine (UCI) is now adding an Overwatch scholarship to its program. Starting later this year, those awarded a scholarship will be given $2500 a year towards their tuition fees. In return they are expected to spend between 15 and 20 hours a week split between practicing their plays, attending team meetings, entering competitions and even doing a bit of community service.
If that wasn't cool enough, UCI has promised to provide participants in the program with a "professional-grade infrastructure" to help coach and improve their performance.
While there's been a bit of doom and gloom surrounding Overwatch's position as an eSport, it appears that the game was chosen as the next scholarship candidate thanks to the university's recent competitive success. With its Overwatch team winning the Tespa Summer Series last year, it seems as though California Irvine wants to double down on its winning streak.
This scholarship program comes at a good time, with Blizzard currently gearing up for the impending launch of its official Overwatch League. With older tournaments resulting in spiraling costs and disgruntled eSports teams, this new league promises to foster a less pricey and more inviting competitive scene around the hugely popular shooter.
While the new League is still a bit of an unknown quantity, let's just hope that UCI's coaches can use their expertise to come online and teach Competitive players how to actually move the payload.
