[The new e-Sports pub allows 50,000 students around the world to connect and compete in e-Sports games.]

[Taking a step closer to ‘Amusement POSTECH,’ catering to the tastes of millennials and Generation Z, made possible by the support from Woori Bank.]

POSTECH is now the first Korean university to open an e-Sports arena on a university campus to let students around the world compete in e-Sports games. The e-sports Colosseum is a sports pub where students can watch e-Sports games and enjoy food and drinks. POSTECH is the only university in Korea to open an e-Sports pub dedicated only to e-Sports on university premises.

Among American universities, University of Arizona and Southern New Hampshire University have announced their plans for an e-Sports stadium, but only Livingstone College has a venue that includes a sports pub component. However, these facilities differ from POSTECH’s Colosseum in that they are actually forming e-Sports teams, whereas POSTECH is focusing on the play culture and the exchange between students.

The e-Sports Colosseum was inspired by the ancient Roman Colosseum that served as a public entertainment facility where members felt a sense of unity while watching games. While the e-Sports Colosseum is an entertainment facility that students can actually visit and enjoy, it is also a space on the metaverse where 50,000 students around the world can simultaneously access and watch games together. It is also meaningful that this is a project in which Metaversity (word combining metaverse and university) that POSTECH has been striving for – to expand the physical campus into the metaverse – has been actualized.

Thanks to the completion of the e-Sports Colosseum, student exchange with international universities is expected to take place more freely through metaverse, compared to the conventional games like the POSTECH-KAIST Science War.

Since 2021, POSTECH has announced plans to create a university where its members lead happier lives by expanding the campus to the metaverse. This e-Sports Colosseum is one of the ‘Amusement POSTECH’ projects that allow students to enjoy a variety of experiences on campus. The Colosseum was designed to meet the interactive digital communication and fan culture needs of the millennials and Generation Z displayed during the last Tokyo Olympics and Beijing Winter Olympics.

The e-sports Colosseum is designed so that the students can not only hold actual e-sports competitions, but also watch live sporting events and concerts, such as the upcoming FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, Olympics, or Premier League soccer matches.

Woori Bank, which has actively supported the play culture of millennials and Generation Z, gave wings to this rather interesting project to create a venue right on campus where students can enjoy games and food.

The first financial institution to serve as the title sponsor of League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK), Woori Bank has been a leader in supporting the e-Sports industry by hosting high-level League of Legends (LoL) championships and opening an exclusive LCK page in the Woori Bank app for LKC fans. By contributing to building the e-Sports Colosseum at POSTECH, Woori Bank has shared the school’s vision to lead the play culture of students.

The completion ceremony was held at POSTECH on April 6 and was attended by President Won-deok Lee, Vice President Seok-tae Lee, and Vice President Wan-shik Park of Woori Bank and President Moo Hwan Kim and Vice President Kwang-Jae Kim of POSTECH, among other guests from both organizations.

President Won-deok Lee of Woori Bank remarked, “We hope that the outstanding students of POSTECH will use the new e-Sports Colosseum that bridges the metaverse and the real world as a platform to play freely and enjoy a variety of experiences.” He added, “We will fully promote the play culture of the game industry and help to expand the landscape of e-Sports in the future.”

“Metaversity is a university where students can enjoy different activities in the real and virtual campus and this e-sports Colosseum kicks off our first step toward metaversity and ‘Amusement POSTECH’,” remarked President Moo Hwan Kim of POSTECH. “We are delighted that this space that students can enjoy has become that very first step, and this fun challenge was made possible thanks to Woori Bank’s insight who shared in our vision.”

To celebrate the completion of the e-Sports Colosseum, POSTECH will hold a League of Legends tournament from April 18 – 29, 2022.