Bethany College Announces the Addition of an Esport Gaming Management Minor

BETHANY, W.Va. – Bethany College is excited to announce the addition of an Esport Gaming Management (ESPT) minor.

The minor will educate students on the basics of developing and administrating esport events. With implementation going into effect in the Fall of 2023 semester, students will have the chance to pair their academic components with their co-curricular activities.

The esport sector generated around 450 million viewers in 2020, with approximately one billion dollars generated in revenue. The video game industry generates approximately 184.4 billion dollars in revenue every year. Technological fields such as these have shifted along with the interests of developing generations to create a substantial, lucrative sector within the business landscape.

“The addition of an esport management minor shows continued improvement in our academic landscape. We are enthusiastic to offer students the chance to partake in an educational journey that is modern and focused on the technological shift we have been observing within the last two decades,” says Bethany President Dr. Jamie Caridi. “We hope that the inclusion of this minor will help us to continue Building for a Lifetime.”

Pairing the esport management minor with majors such as business, computer science, marketing, and management will pave new avenues for current and prospective students to follow career pursuits in the fields of content creation, product and project management, design, and production management, as well as entrepreneurial projects.

The minor will require 18 hours, or six courses, for completion. Course requirement framework will be based on students gaining basic knowledge of computer programming, communications, and business courses. Required classes will also include sales marketing and promotional courses to aid in future business pursuits.

“Our esport management minor will continue to build off of our current business and management curriculum to create versatile and unique career paths for current and prospective students,” says Provost and Dean of Faculty Dr. Anju Ramjee.

In their first steps through an esport management education, students will complete courses developed in partnership with Unity, a real-time, cross-platform development program, and the International Game Developers Association (IGDA).

With the guidance of experienced professionals, esport students will create relationships to advance their future careers. Students pursuing an esport management minor will have the opportunity to review and revise the design of a convention, trade show, or esport event, as well as manage team and league operations while developing relationships with stakeholders within the esport community. To complete the minor, students will take ESPT 400, Distribution of Games. This course will allow students to create plans to launch a new game through distribution, using agile planning methods, with a project fair to end the course.