First-of-its-kind partnership to bring together collegiate education & professional Esports to across the globe
In a landmark move for Asian Esports, Global Esports (India’s leading and Asia’s fastest growing premier Esports organization) has announced strategic ties with Harrisburg University (home to America’s best collegiate Esports team) to bridge the gap between collegiate and pro-Esports across India and the world.
“Global Esports (GE) has been making significant waves in Esports around most of Asia with top tier performance in Overwatch, Fortnite, CSGO, Dota 2 and PUBG. We have been keen to expand our reach to North America for some time now and Harrisburg was the clear choice”, mentions Dr. Rushindra Sinha, Co-Founder of Global Esports. “This is the first time a partnership between a university and an Esports Organization is being forged. We are keen to partner with Harrisburg University as they are the primary disruptors of the educational system in this domain,” he adds.
“This partnership will provide opportunities that will benefit both aspiring Esports athletes and pro players alike,” mentions Chad Smeltz, Director of Esports, Harrisburg University (HU). “It will kick off with Global Esports bringing their Overwatch World Cup Team from India to Harrisburg University’s state-of-the-art practice facilities to bootcamp and train before the Tournament,” he adds.
Team India will travel to Harrisburg University before the Overwatch World Cup under the guidance of former professional player Coach Joemeister, who will oversee the development of the team. During their stay, Team India will battle against Harrisburg University’s varsity team, The Storm, in a show match open to the public.
GE will be fronting the effort to take Team India to the Overwatch World Cup on the 1st and 2nd of November 2019 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Los Angeles – California.
This partnership marks a one-of-a-kind attempt at bringing Esports to the collegiate sports ecosystem in North America and creates a foundation for further such partnerships in the space.
The partnership will also include an exchange program between HU & GE along with coordinated boot-camps at GE training facilities and weekend game-a-thons at HU. GE will also collaborate with HU to help make their Esports Degree (Faculty, Lectures, Assistance in curriculum, Masterclasses, Workshops) available across India and Asia, followed by collegiate Esport Events / Tournaments hosted for HU across India. GE will also help in the scouting of collegiate level talent for HU across Indian and then, Asia.
About Global Esports:
Founded by Dr. Rushindra Sinha and Mohit Israney, Global Esports is Asia’s fastest growing Esports organization featuring 12 teams across the globe across 9 different gaming titles. GE were recently in their news to be the first Esports Organization to have raised funding from India (Venture Catalysts).
Having been closely involved in the Esports ecosystem closely in Asia for the last two years – Global Esports has created two fully equipped training facilities based out of Seoul (South Korea) and Mumbai (India) and are home to some of the biggest Esports talent to have been produced from Asia.
Global Esports (GE) owns teams, creates content, organizes tournaments and hosts events online and offline and sells merchandise. With more than 75 people including teams, managers, coaches, support staff and the management team GE has 2 training facilities and bootcamps, one in Seoul, South Korea and the other in Mumbai, India. GE has been rapidly expanding its infrastructure and industry presence.
A strong presence in the Asian Esports market serves as strength for GE as it is home to over 50% Esports players out of 2.5 billion across the globe and 51% of the 500 million global Esports audience. In under a year of inception, the company has 12 Esports teams spread across 9 game titles with players from over 12 countries. They own and manage pro tier teams in games like Fortnite, Overwatch, CS:GO, Dota 2, Pubg, Pubg Mobile, Rainbow Six Siege, Apex Legends, League of Legends etc. With their newly launched Streamer Program, GE is expanding their reach to gamers around the globe with content as their base.
About Harrisburg University:
Harrisburg University is one of the newest Universities and is only 20 years young. HU has its roots in STEM but has made significant progress and is one of the most sought after premier collegiate Esports program. HU has made significant headway in Esports and this partnership looks to be the newest entrant to their Esports heritage.
It also runs one of the best collegiate Esports program in the world and their team – The HU Storm sets the standard for collegiate Esports worldwide. Consisting of a team of industry veterans such as Eric Darr (President Director of Harrisburg University), Doug Firestone (Chief of Staff), Chad Smeltz (Esports Program Director – HU Storm Esports Program), Joe “Joemeister” Granamo (Head Coach of the HU Storm collegiate Overwatch team) and Alex “Xpecial” Chu (Head Coach of the HU Storm collegiate League of Legends team). HU Storm is also partnered up with the Whittaker Center which serves as the home stadium for the HU Storm’s inhouse Esports arena which provides space for the team’s practice area, digital locker room, scrimmage hubs, space for event / tournament hosting and a 200-seating space with room for 700 for fans and spectators to attend matches live.
