E-Sports to Compete in Five New Games

The Brescia e-Sports team, heading into its third year as a sponsored program, will add five new games for the upcoming season.

The team will be competing in Fortnite, Rocket League, League of Legends, Magic: the Gathering Arena, and Apex Legends. The team will also continue to compete in Overwatch and CS:GO.

What you need to know about each new game:

• Fortnite is a multiplayer, third-person battle royale game that places a heavy emphasis on strategy.
• Rocket League is a vehicular soccer game that can be multiplayer or single player.
• League of Legends is a multiplayer online battle arena game. The League of Legends Championship Series is one of the largest e-Sports leagues in North America.
• Magic: the Gathering Arena is a digital multiplayer card game. It is a relatively new game on the e-Sports scene.
• Apex Legends is a multiplayer, first-person battle royale that is character driven.

Fortnite stands out as the most universally popular game on that list. As of March 2019, over 250 million people had a Fortnite account and is among the most played games in the world, according to Business Insider.

"Fortnite had a lot of questionable growth. Now that it's been in the competitive scene for a bit, it will be a new way for our students to compete. NACE (National Association of Collegiate Esports) is supporting it this year, which is the additional push for us to start competing in the game," said Head Coach Matthew Horn.

Horn continued, "The biggest challenge -- which is the case with any game -- is practice. Students who are not used to "practicing" a video game will have to learn that it's not just going in and playing. Every game has to be broken down into mechanic work, learning of the meta, maps, and player development."

The e-Sports team will take a large step forward in versatility this season with the inclusion of the five new games.

"The main goal is to compete, not play. We want our program to be recognized as having structure and able to further gamer's careers, while getting their degree," said Horn.

For more information on the e-Sports team, follow Brescia athletics on Facebook and Twitter (@BresciaBearcats) and the e-Sports team on Twitter (@BresciaEsports).