Oxford University To Offer Esports and Gaming Courses in Partnership with Tencent
Left: Oxford UniversityPrestigious UK university Oxford have teamed up with one of the biggest games publishers in the world, Tencent, to offer esports courses as part of a trade deal with Britain.
Chinese Tencent, who also run social media and music networks, have struck the trade deal with the UK in order to increase cooperation between the two countries, focusing on film, video games and even fashion.
The deal called the ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ will involve projects with the BBC, as well as a focus on developing esports with Oxford University.
It is not clear what these projects will entail, but by the sound of it, Tencent is keen to expand their massive business (the second largest in China) across to the western world.
As reported by Reuters, the deal was announced last week by Liam Fox, Secretary of State for International Trade, and Tencent Senior Executive Vice President Seng Yee Lau.
“[Tencent] will work with Oxford University to host games and courses designed to promote the development of the e-sports industry”.
What exactly these courses will teach or develop is unknown, but is likely similar to other esports projects in academics such as the scholarships in the US or York University.
Tencent of course are the company behind some of the biggest esports titles including League of Legends, and also own the majority Epic Games, creators of Fortnite, which they hope to bring to the Asian market soon.
They recently invested around $15 million into developing and promoting esports for Fortnite in China, and are one of the most influential companies in global esports.
It doesn’t sound as though these projects with Oxford will necessarily mean esports scholarships, but there is certainly potential for that in the future.