A College Degree in 'Video Gaming' Will Be Available Soon In The Philippines

Parents, take note: soon, you may not have to ask your gaming enthusiast child to study first before playing videogames, because the videogame itself will make up most of his academics. Yes, a college degree in electronic sports (esports) may soon become a reality in the Philippines.

Esports and gaming agency Tier One Entertainment announced on Instagram on February 19 that they are working with Lyceum of the Philippines University to create the first-ever tertiary curriculum for esports in the country.

"Lyceum of the Philippines University Manila and Tier One Entertainment are committed in making this dream a reality. We will be passing the curriculum to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) on March this year. If this goes well, we might have a full course available by 2020," the post said.

According to a Facebook post by Tier One chief executive officer Tryke Gutierrez, Bachelor of Science in Esports will be a 4-year course where one has the option to choose between game design or esports management. He said that the subjects and the full curriculum are about 80% done. (Do video games make a child smarter? Find out.)

He warned, however, that obtaining a degree in Esports "is not going to be easy, it's not going to be just about fun and games. I've been in this industry for too long to understand that it takes more than passion in order to achieve what you want to achieve in this field. You need hard work, sacrifice, skills, professionalism and many more."

Tryke expressed his hopes for a bright future for esports in the Philippines, which will help create jobs and present more income opportunities.

"This is a dream come true for me as I personally believe that a proper support system is one of the strongest foundations for success and once the academe finally accepts this industry, I truly believe that the support from families of gamers will follow," he wrote.

 

The inclusion of esports in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, the first of its kind as a medal event in a multi-sport competition that was sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee, is proof of the growing recognition for esports as a legitimate sport.

In the said event that included DOTA 2, Starcraft II, Hearthstone, Tekken 7, Arena of Valor, and Mobile Legends Bang Bang, the Philippine team won 3 Gold, 1 Silver, and 1 Bronze medals.

Globally, the esports business is a billion-dollar industry, and is expected to grow even bigger in the next 2 to 3 years.