E-sports, also known as competitive gaming, are leagues, tournaments or similar competitions in which individuals or teams play video games.
The $2.3 million state-of-the-art classroom at LBCC features cutting-edge technology intended to support students interested in the rapidly growing e-sports industry and meet the highest standards of competitive gaming, according to college officials.
The Board of Trustees for the Long Beach Community College District, as well as students, employees and community members, gathered at the lab on Thursday to celebrate the occasion with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“All of our efforts are about you,” Board of Trustees President Uduak-Joe Ntuk told students during the ceremony. “We want to invest in you and give you opportunities to succeed and fulfill your goals and dreams.”
E-sports can build critical thinking skills and help gamers overcome challenges, Ntuk said, but also give students the practical benefits of learning about technology, coding, hardware and software — and prepare them for exciting careers.
By 2030, the e-sports industry will be worth $6 billion and currently, careers in gaming technology are steadily increasing, Ntuk added.
LBCC officials said they are proud to be at the forefront of providing students with access to this innovative field of study by building the e-sports lab. The project renovated an existing room and computer lab in Building M at LBCC’s Liberal Arts Campus.
“There was a lot of good intentions behind this,” said LBCC Superintendent-President Mike Muñoz. “It came from a place of wanting to create a space where students felt connected, where they could connect with the future, where they could connect their aspirations to things that bring them joy, that they feel connected to, to potentially a pathway into a multi-billion dollar industry.”
The new e-sports lab includes 27 Alienware gaming stations, with a teaching station for an instructor or coach to interact with students; and an optimized lighting system to enhance player comfort and reduce visual fatigue during extended gaming sessions.
It also has an independent operational infrastructure that ensures uninterrupted network and power capabilities for seamless gaming experiences, as well as a fully equipped casting booth that supports live professional-grade broadcasting of gaming competitions over the Internet.
Construction began in March 2024 and was completed in July; it officially opened to students during the fall semester. The renovations were funded by Measure LB and LBCC’s capital outlay fund, according to a press release.
The LBCC e-sports program is divided into teams for different games, including “League of Legends,” “Valorant,” “Rainbow Six Siege” and “Call of Duty,” among others. Currently, there are 70 members in the program, said Gabe Giangualano, director of LBCC’s E-Sports.
Students in the program can learn to become competitive players, but also take on roles as media casters, engineers, content creators and graphic designers, the director said.
“What sets our program apart is that we built and designed our program to be very similar to a professional organization,” Giangualano said. “We have our talent players, we have players who are part of our media team and players who are part of our outreach teams.”
The emergence of e-sports as a productive major and career path from the community college level emphasizes teamwork, communication, strategy and leadership — skills that are transferable to many other careers and valuable in today’s job market, college officials said.
“It’s amazing; it’s been a journey these past few months,” said Noah Idio, a second-year LBCC student and e-sports team captain for Valorant. “This is completely new ground for us, so we had to navigate it ourselves and try to get the lab operational so that we could invite people in. We’ve succeeded in that, but we want to optimize it.”
Idio said that what he is learning in the e-sports program will help his career, honing skill sets that will provide opportunities to work at sports stadiums across Los Angeles County, coordinate events or even become a professional e-sports player.
LBCC currently offers a certificate of achievement in “Digital Media: Multimedia Interaction & Game Design,” which provides students with the foundational skills to work in the gaming industry. The college also offers various programs for students looking to pursue careers in robotics, computer office studies, cloud computing, cybersecurity and more.
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