The University of California, Irvine has now joined the club with the announcement that it will soon begin offering a four-year League of Legends scholarship later this year for 10 students. The scholarship comes as part of a larger deal with Riot Games, who will also be opening a gaming cafe on campus in an effort to replicate the success of similar establishments in South Korea.
In a statement given to Polygon today, UC Irvine’s newly appointed e-sports director Mark Deppe revealed that 72% of the university’s students identify as gamers. “If we are the number one school for gamers, we’re going to be attracting a lot of people,” Deppe explained. “We want to be a first-choice school, and I think if we’re the best gaming and esports school out there, then we can attract a lot of fantastic students.”
