MSU ESports

The booming collegiate esports scene means offering scholarships to attract the best players. MSU’s growing program will start the scholarships in the fall.

It’s a norm at many colleges and universities to treat esports just like varsity sports, down to offering scholarships to land the best players.

The fighting video game, which debuted in 1999, still has a strong following. But finding the old video game equipment to play Super Smash Bros. is another story.

Less than 8.2 percent of active gamers are women, according to a study, which leads Michigan State’s popular esports clubs to examine their gender balance.

The growing popularity of esports is reflected at MSU, with its student esports club membership rising and the academic study of the medium deepening.