Media Contact
Jeremy Craig
Communications Manager
Office of the Provost
[email protected]
ATLANTA—College and university students are invited to compete in Georgia State University’s varsity fall semiannual PantherLAN Tournament, being held virtually Nov. 6-7. Students do not need to be part of a formal varsity esports program to participate.
The tournament will feature gameplay in “Smite,” “Overwatch,” “League of Legends,” “Hearthstone,” “Guilty Gear: Strive,” “Tekken 7,” and “Dragon Ball Fighter Z.” There are no registration or entry fees, and students can register to participate in the competition at https://smash.gg/tournament/pantherlan-fall-2021-1.
Matches will be streamed live through https://twitch.tv/georgiastateu/ and https://twitch.tv/georgiastateu2/. To follow the latest updates on the tournament, join the PantherLAN Discord at https://discord.gg/x63zhxeUXK.
In-person tournaments on the Georgia State campus in Atlanta began in 2018. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, game play shifted to an online format starting in 2020.
The semiannual PantherLAN event is co-sponsored by the Georgia Game Developers Association (GGDA) and the National Association of Collegiate Esports. During the spring 2021 tournament, 140 players from 41 colleges and universities across North America and in Europe participated.
Concurrently during the tournament, GGDA is hosting its Southern Interactive Entertainment and Game Expo (SIEGE) 2021, with sessions addressing multiple aspects of esports, game play, and the ins and outs of game development. For more information about SIEGE2021, visit https://ggda.org/.
Georgia State’s varsity esports program is housed at the Creative Media Industries Institute (CMII).
Varsity esports at Georgia State have benefits beyond game play. With its home in CMII, students have access to immersive, practical experiences within a rich emerging technologies environment that includes virtual and augmented reality, and game design and development. CMII programs empower students to design their own degrees in media entrepreneurship and game design and development.
Team members are eligible to earn scholarships and are expected to maintain high scholastic performance.
For more information about Georgia State Esports, visit http://esports.gsu.edu. For more about the Creative Media Industries Institute, visit http://cmii.gsu.edu.