The Esports Laboratory at the University of South Carolina is an innovative, transformative, and inclusive space dedicated to the advancement of esports education and research. Our facilities provide a unique learning environment that blends teaching, research, and practice to enhance the development of knowledge and best practices in esports.
As part of our mission, we provide and are engaged in the following esports services:
- Educational services
- Collaborative projects with industry partners
- Community and team building
- Multidisciplinary research studies
- Grants and funded projects
- Esports event planning and management
If you are interested in our services or collaborating with the team, please email Nick Watanabe, Ph.D., at nmwatana@mailbox.sc.edu
Faculty Lab Members
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Nick Watanabe, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and International Graduate Program Director
Department of Sport and Entertainment Management
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Jongjin Hwang, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Sport and Entertainment Management
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Research Publication Highlights
| Year | Author(s) | Title, Publication or Publisher, DOI or Link | Keywords (hidden column) |
|---|---|---|---|
| in preparation | Nagel, M. S., Scroggins, C., & Sugishita, K. | The business of esports, Kendall Hunt Publishers | |
| 2024 (In press) | Hwang, Y., Fisackerly, W., & Heere, B. | Team identification in esports: The benefits of localizing an esports team, Sport Marketing Quarterly | |
| 2023 | Ock, D., & Hwang, Y. | The impacts of social needs and game playing type on esports consumers' positive eWOM sharing: Applying the FIRO theory, International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship | |
| 2023 | Xue, H., Du, J., Pizzo, A. D., Baker, B. J., Henry, T. E., Yan, G., & Watanabe, N. M. | The dynamics of esports crowdfunding campaign success: A social exchange perspective, International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 10.1007/s11365-023-00850-9 | |
| 2023 | Hwang, Y., Watanabe, N. M., & Nagel, M. | Effects of in-game brand congruity on esports consumers' implicit and explicit memory, International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, 10.1123/smej.2022-0005 | |
| 2022 | Newman, J. I., Xue, H., Watanabe, N. M., Yan, G., & McLeod, C. M. | Gaming gone viral: An analysis of the emerging esports narrative economy, Communication & Sport, 10.1177/2167479520961036 | |
| 2021 | Watanabe, N. M., Xue, H., Newman, J. I., & Yan, G. | The attention economy and esports: An econometric analysis of Twitch viewership, Journal of Sport Management, 10.1123/jsm.2020-0383 | |
| 2016 | Nagel, M. S., & Sugishita, K. | eSports: The fastest growing segment of the 'sport' industry, Sport & Entertainment Review, 2(2), 51-60 | |
| 2015 | Sugishita, K., & Nagel, M. | eSports: The wave of the present and the future, Facility Manager, https://iavm.org/esports-the-wave-of-the-present-and-the-future/ |
Course Offerings Related to Esports
This course is designed to provide students with an overview of the business of esports. It will focus on the history of video games from creation to the present and will also cover the various business elements of the modern, competitive esports environment.
