Curious about studying Esports - BA (Hons)at University of Staffordshire? We've gathered all the key details—entry requirements, modules, fees, and more. Hear from real students by checking out reviews, or take the next step by booking an open day to explore it for yourself.
Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Stoke-on-Trent Campus
Full Time
Sep 2026
3 Year
Our BA (Hons) Esports degree is unique as it combines the production side – digital media and broadcasting – with practical experience of business, marketing event management and the theory-based community and cultural studies aspects of the industry. It means you’ll have lots of transferable skills and knowledge, relevant to other careers as well as the esports world. You can choose to specialise in an area you’re interested in as you progress on the course through optional modules and flexible assessments. You’ll be studying at an award-winning games university and will learn how to host small and large-scale tournaments, events and productions for esports and how to adapt for clients external to our sector. The course will teach you how to work across different platforms using industry-standard broadcast technology. You will also get to grips with how to market your events, use data analytics and thrive in roles such as community management, league ops, event management, production/broadcast or marketing. Develop a critical insight into issues facing the multi-million pound global esports industry, including corporate social responsibility, regulation, emerging technologies and the need for innovation to drive growth. Our students get lots of opportunities to organise events, from varsity tournaments to charity fundraisers. They’ve also worked with the Alpine F1 team on their 'Community Cup' Series culminating in the final week being hosted at Alpine's Enstone factory! Every year, we also stage ‘Campus clash’ a friendly competition between year groups. Although gaming skills are not taught on the BA, you’ll get to pursue your passion for playing games through extra-curricular activities. Some of our Esports teams have even been crowned champions. Opportunities include: - Taking part in UK and international varsity leagues like NUEL and NSE - Joining competitive societies featuring games such as League of Legends, Call of Duty, Valorant, Overwatch and Super Smash Bros - Visiting esports events in the UK to network and get inspiration for your own events We’ve worked with industry professionals to ensure the course meets their needs and produces graduates with the exact skills they are looking for in applicants. Alongside completing live industry briefs and running your own projects, you’ll look at how to freelance and market your skills to employers. There’s also an option of a placement year, or study exchange with our partner institute in Finland. On successful completion of study, we will issue the following award: BA (Hons) Esports
How do consumers decide what event to attend, which product to buy or media to consume? Marketing is a key part of not only esports, but everyday life. In our Contemporary Marketing Applications module students learn the most effective ways of marketing to the newly formed, highly critical audiences that dominate the digital landscape. Covering the history of marketing, basic implementations and analysing the forefront of emerging contemporary approaches, students will not only discover how to reach their audience, but how to innovate and create lasting impact while doing so.
Esports thrives on the media platforms that make up the digital ecosystem. Dive into the research that directs platforms to govern users in the ways they do, and the ways to make the most of the algorithms they operate upon. Understand the importance of platform responsibility in a budding industry and how it all ties together to propel your presence in esports to the front of the digital landscape.
What is esports and why is it important? On this module, students will develop an introductory understanding of esports in relation to its history, key concepts and ideas, its culture, and current pressing topics/issues. From here, students will begin to speculate on esports future to consider where the next big development could come from to further revolutionise the industry. Students will also be introduced to the discipline of academic writing, including an introduction to research and Harvard referencing.
What puts esports broadcasts at the forefront of the industry? What can esports learn from other sectors? These are the questions on the lips of the broadcast crews creating award winning live content to cover the most popular esports games across the globe. In this module, students use dedicated facilities such as our Esports Hub an interactive broadcast studio packed with industry standard equipment to work as part of a broadcast team creating broadcasts that would fit in among industry output.
Barely any parts of the esports sector (or any adjacent industry) exist with people working in isolation. In this practical application focussed module, students will develop their understanding of how to effectively work within various team dynamics and redefine their abilities to overcome obstacles as a group. Students will then reflect upon and apply current working theories to their groups performance, to prepare for the integration into the inevitable teamwork in and industry setting.
Community managers are often the front face of most esports organisations, teams, publishers and even brands. Its vital that we understand the challenges faced by community managers working in esports and beyond and how they can capture the potential value their communities hold. At any point these communities can be engulfed by discourse, so avoiding any potential crisis situations that might endanger them is key to the role. You will consider what a community is and why their engagement is crucial to the success of the stakeholder and develop an innovative response to an hypothetical emerging crisis.
Compounding on your knowledge gained so far, youll familiarise yourself with industry workflows to execute an event production aligned with a brief guided by industry figures. This module will have a strong emphasis on team collaboration in a workshop environment, allowing for persistent personal reflection for self-development in one or more areas of specialised roles. You and your event team will work through each stage of the pre-production process using project management models, broadcasting knowhow and marketing application.
Data drives decisions. Learn how Esports and adjacent industries identify and use key performance metrics within data, and the key principles of analysis that contribute to an employable skillset. Develop your understanding in data collection, big data development, statistical analysis, presenting findings and how these all contribute to decision making in your desired discipline.
With high profile scandals from publishers such as Riot Games and Blizzard Entertainment, social responsibility is becoming a pressing issue for esports. This module will look at key areas such as: equality diversity and inclusion, sustainability, working conditions, consumer protection, ethical marketing and business and reputation management. As potential employees in this sector, it is vital that students of esports understand how and why social responsibility is important to the future sustainability of the sector. By the end of this module, students will be able to identify improvements, to innovate the approach to social responsibility for esports.
The decision makers in Esports are always looking for the next big thing to captivate their audiences, bring a new technique to their team or revolutionise their workflow. Finding it before your competitors will give you a big edge in the battle for growth in a well-populated space and help you stand out amongst the crowd. In this forward focussed module, you will analyse esports and adjacent industries to identify disruptive and emergent techniques, technologies, ideas and concepts that could be the key to success and how to appropriately respond to those found by competitors. Students will judge how effective they are, discuss how they could produce their own content featuring one of these concepts, or even propose some entirely new ideas to drive innovation in the esports industry forward.
As a capstone to the course, students will conduct a major project, driven by inquiry to innovate in a chosen esports area. Students will be given a strong degree of autonomy over their project topic and the format they wish to conduct it. Some students may choose to conduct a research project and write a dissertation, while others may seek to conduct an esports production or creative work (with an associated written exegesis explaining the work). Students are assessed individually and should have an individual goal they are seeking to achieve through their work, but can collaborate with other students on a broader, overarching project.
The esports industry has seen substantial growth globally over the past decade, however this growth has not always been even. With many different industry and cultural practices developing across different platforms, games and regions, it has become crucial to critically frame this emerging ecosystem globally. This module gives critical focus to esports issues both at global and local levels, with attention to inclusivity, governance, and cultures.
BBC Grades/points required
Not currently available, please Contact University for up to date information.
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