The project combines esports competitions and education, offering the possibility for students to have their first professional experiences within the industry.
Amazon UNIVERSITY Esports, one of the most prestigious university esports competitions in the MENA region organised by MENA Tech Entertainment, has now completed its Spring Split in the UAE. More than 850 players from over 40 universities took part in the competition throughout the Spring term.
List of winners
In Riot Games’ titles, ‘We Scalin’, a team formed by players from Zayed University, United Arab Emirates University, American University of Sharjah, College De Paris and from the Abu Dhabi University, won the League of Legends finals. The champion team in VALORANT was ‘Zoomers’, with players from Ajman University, University of Birmingham, Heriot-Watt University and the Rochester Institute of Technology of Dubai.
The winning teams of this split will represent the UAE in the Amazon UNIVERSITY Esports Masters MENA Series. This competition will bring together the best university teams from KSA, UAE, Egypt and Morocco. The dates of this competition are still to be confirmed.
Esports has experienced explosive growth and become a significant force in the entertainment industry especially among university students. Esports programs allow students to compete in organised tournaments and leagues. The growth can be attributed to the increasing popularity of video games as a form of entertainment, with many players having a higher purchasing power. Additionally, the rise of streaming services has made it easier for fans to access esports events. According to Newzoo, the games market will exceed $200 billion at the end of 2023. Currently standing at $1.8bn, revenues generated by the gaming industry in the MENA region are expected to reach $5bn by 2025. MENA Tech is leading the charge for esports enthusiasts in the region, organising tournaments and other events to advance the burgeoning industry.
One of the highlights of this season was the collaboration signed between Amazon UNIVERSITY Esports and HP OMEN to improve the gaming experience for competitors with the latest technologies and features in PC gaming, supporting the growth of the university’s educational technology project.
A core mission of Amazon UNIVERSITY Esports is supporting the grassroots esports industry through real world career development opportunities. For this reason, it offers the opportunity for students who are interested in learning more about the industry to make their first professional experiences. To this end, the organisation opens its doors to learn roles such as broadcasters, commentators, producers, social media, and many other areas of the ecosystem.
This season of Amazon UNIVERSITY Esports also presented its UNIVERSITY Tour for the first time in the UAE. The UNIVERSITY Tour aims to bring the competition closer to university students so that they get to know about it and can be encouraged to participate.
The tour consists of a route that passes through different universities throughout the country. An environment that simulates a competitive environment is created in each of them. The purpose of this is to simulate what students would experience if they participated in Amazon UNIVERSITY Esports.
Mario Perez, CEO of MENATech commented: “The Amazon UNIVERSITY Esports team is pleased to have successfully completed a new season. This has been a year of great challenges and learning, focused on improving the students’ experience.With a majority of the population in the MENA region under 30 years old, it is our hope that next year’s competition will continue to grow, with more students and universities participating.”
Supporting the student esports community
Amazon UNIVERSITY Esports is made possible thanks to the support of top-level publishers and brands such as Riot Games, Ubisoft and HP OMEN.
