Esports isn’t just about playing video games. It has become one of the world’s most booming industries with career opportunities in many areas, including software engineering, product management, event management, graphic design, marketing, content production and more. In 2022, global esports market revenue was valued at just over $1.38 billion and is forecast to grow to as much as $1.87 billion in 2025.
Dozens of University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa students learned from the success of UH Mānoa’s own skyrocketing esports program, which was named the nation’s best collegiate esports program in 2022 and has been named a finalist in 2023, at a networking and panel event at the new Walter Dods, Jr. RISE Center on October 10. Hosted by the Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship (PACE) in the Shidler College of Business in collaboration with UH Esports, the students learned about:
- First hand experiences from UH Mānoa students who interned with leading South Korean esports company Gen.G
- How they can be a part of the esports industry right here in Hawaiʻi with Vanta
- Résumé additions to stand out when applying to internships in the gaming industry from Pacxa, Vanta, MPIRE Gaming and Lenovo
“As the director of UH Esports, I want other parts of the UH Mānoa campus to help shape what esports can mean to their respective communities,” said UH Mānoa’s esports Program Director Nyle Sky Kauweloa. “Collaborating with PACE has brought in diverse perspectives and conversations around the core skills, operations, and knowledge that lie beyond a singular focus on competitions. The collaboration between UH Esports and PACE at RISE represents one of the more diverse venues on the island where new ideas are being shared among the future leaders of esports in Hawaiʻi.”
PACE Executive Director Sandra Fujiyama added, “The mission of PACE is to inspire our budding innovators and entrepreneurs at UH to explore their passions and bring their ideas to life. Partnering with UH Esports to host events like this and inspire our students to dream big in this skyrocketing industry, and to do it at our state-of-the-art facility, the Walter Dods, Jr. RISE Center, is truly a win-win for all.”
Kylin Daniel is a senior communicology major and UH Mānoa’s League of Legends coordinator. Daniel was one of the students who participated in the three-week internship with Gen.G.
“Interning with the esports organization Gen.G taught me what it’s like to apply myself to assignments that feel more meaningful, because these assignments aren’t graded, but are used in the real world,” Daniel said. “Also, it is imperative to understand how to use AI (artificial intelligence) and ChatGPT as a tool to work more efficiently. Learning how to prompt in AI isn’t just a valuable skill, but an absolutely necessary one.”
Casey Caro is a sophomore computer science major. Caro is a Valorant player for the Women of UH Esports team, volunteers at iLab and also participated in the Gen.G internship.
“My time at Gen.G and UH Manoa for this internship has shown me firsthand how a diverse group of individuals can effectively merge two seemingly unrelated domains: esports and education,” Caro said. “I was genuinely surprised by the unexpected connection between these two fields. While they may seem like complete opposites, I discovered that they complement each other in ways that are both fascinating and effective.”
Vote for UH Mānoa!
The UH Mānoa esports program has been nominated for the best collegiate esports program of the year award in 2023, after winning the award in 2022 and being nominated for the past two years. The public can vote for the team on the Scholars Collegiate Gaming Awards website until November 20. The winner will be announced at an event in Las Vegas on November 28. Vote now for UH Mānoa’s esports program!
UH Esports receives substantial funding from the Academy for Creative Media System. Visit the UH Esports team’s Twitter and Discord pages. More stories on UH’s esports program.
—By Marc Arakaki
