UNC-Greensboro is bringing online competitive gaming – known as epsorts – to downtown.
The university will open a makerspace inside coworking space transformGSO in late February. Featuring software by Cary-based Epic Games, the makerspace will include eight gaming computers. UNCG said it would use the space for academic programs to host class instruction and to exhibit students’ work.
Esports have been on the rise at colleges across the Triad, with many institutions offering esports clubs as extracurriculars.
High Point University opened a new esports arena in its renovated game design lab in 2020, and both Alamance Community College and Guilford Technical Community College have begun esports teams as a way to attract students. And it’s not just college students who are playing esports; a gaming center called The BUNKR opened in downtown Winston-Salem’s entertainment and food hall opened this past summer.
At UNCG, students can even study esports in one of three courses of study – a videogaming and esports studies minor; a non-credit certificate program in esports; and an esports management concentration. The university also offers a concentration in animation in its undergraduate art program.
"Esports have the potential to drive enrollment, grow industry partnerships and generate additional university revenue and support," wrote Frank Gilliam, UNCG's chancellor, in a November 2022 guest column about how regional universities must innovate to stay relevant.
Unreal Engine is a 3D computer graphics software developed by Epic Games, the company best known for creating Fortnite. The software is used in a variety of industries. Epic Games and UNCG partnered in 2022 to teach North Carolina educators and students how to create interactive 3D experiences using Unreal Engine.
“This partnership enables our UNCG Unreal Engine-trained faculty to instruct and mentor students in an entrepreneurial environment,” said David Wyrick, chief innovation officer for UNCG’s accelerator program. “Being surrounded by innovative thinkers and doers while learning cutting-edge digital software models professionalism to our students and showcases how UNCG is transforming Greensboro’s workforce.”
With 32,000 leasable square feet, transformGSO is the fifth largest coworking space in the Triad according to TBJ data. Located in downtown’s Gateway Building, it was founded in 2014 by Andy Zimmerman, Ken Causey and HQ Raleigh (now Raleigh Founded),
