Earlier this month Stephanie Economou won a Grammy award for scoring Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök, one of the most popular video games available today. This is the first time the Grammy’s have awarded a composer in the video game genre.
Stephanie, a video game soundtrack composer, started off as a classical musician. She, along with former film artist Amy Henning, who is a game developer responsible for the critically acclaimed Uncharted series, and former electrical engineer Hironobu Sakaguchi – who helped create some of the most important role-playing games of our time, like the Final Fantasy series – are just a few of the people who have made careers in the rapidly growing and lucrative gaming industry.
“The worldwide gaming industry is worth more than $200 billion annually, and there are hundreds of jobs available within it, making it a viable and exciting career path,” says Shaun Fuchs, founder and CEO of Centennial Schools.
Centennial Schools have built the largest eSports arena of its kind in Africa, because, Fuchs says, education has to be reimagined for the 21st century. “eSports is not just students playing computer games, we have incorporated eSports into our overall approach to education as it teaches students valuable skills beyond the classroom,” he says.
While eSports and gaming allows students to develop soft skills like teamwork, good sportsmanship, strategic thinking, and leadership, they also offer a whole new range of career opportunities, Fuchs says.
Within the gaming industry there is a need for game developers, camera operators, catering, screen action, content creation, cinematography, copy editing, project management, social media managers, accounting, HR, lecturing and research.
“These are just a few of the career possibilities within the gaming industry, and this is why we have launched the first eSports scholarship in South Africa,” Fuchs says.
Centennial Schools eSports scholarship is a once in a lifetime opportunity for young gamers. The three scholarships, to the value of R750 000, are on offer to three keen South African gamers.
- Entries for this unique competition close at the end of February.
- Participants will be required to compete in several games, including Minecraft, Aim Labs, Overcooked and Superliminal.
- Students can enter on the Centennial Schools website.