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UNSW’s ESports Club students took home top honours at the first annual academic esports tournament in Hawaii. The tournament, held in December at the University of Hawaii Maui College, was the first to combine competitive gaming with academic challenges to highlight the strengths of esports education on a global stage.

Esports, the name often given to competitive gaming, is a rapidly growing global industry. Players and teams compete in organised video game tournaments, rivalling some traditional sports in audience, sponsorship and cultural influence.

The students from UNSW’s winning team, studying degrees from UNSW Arts, Design & Architecture, UNSW Business School and UNSW Science, faced off against six teams representing universities from Hawaii, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Norway, Germany and Austria in popular games such as Valorant, League of Legends, and Rocket League.

“The UNSW ESports team taking out the win with our first-ever official representation for UNSW and being able to compete, collaborate, and connect with these various cultures and their connections with esports shows there is a bright future for the field,” says Xander Gonzaga, Bachelor of Science (Computer Science)/ Bachelor of Media Arts student and 2024 Secretary of the UNSW ESports Club. “Sharing our stories and connecting with other students from abroad made it an incredible experience for everyone involved outside of the esports component also.”

“In my time competing and managing in esports, every single tournament I've ever competed in has been fully online,” says Oskar Page, Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) / Computer Science student and 2025 President of the UNSW Esports Club. “Getting the opportunity to compete in an in-person LAN (local area network) environment while also getting the opportunity to travel and experience a whole new country was a dream come true.”

The unique academic format of the tournament also showcased their impressive strategic thinking, problem-solving, collaboration and leadership skills in challenges, including programming, business innovation and academic debate.

Oskar says the key to the team’s success was consistency and well-rounded skillsets from each player, as well as experience that helped with the academic challenges.

“While a lot of other universities seemed to build their team around one game, or towards only just the academic challenges, we were able to put out a good consistent performance across all areas, and that was a very crucial part to our success,” Oskar says. “Everyone on the team had a role to fill, and they did it all superbly.”

Xander says representing UNSW on an international stage and becoming the tournament champions will help boost the esports scene further in Australia.

“Tournaments, such as these, provide much-needed publicity and recognition of the industry and scene,” Xander says. “Our victory shows the possibilities for future development in Australia, whether that is local tournaments, programs, and investment, or to compete on the global stage.”

Xander says the achievement is even more impressive given the team’s short preparation time, being one of the last universities to enter the tournament.

“It was a massive challenge to formulate a representative team, strategies and plans that matched the tournament’s objectives within a short time frame,” Xander says. “Massive props to our team manager, Oskar, who really brought our team together.”

2025 promises to be the biggest year yet for the club, with more tournaments and collaborations with other esports organisations in Australia and internationally.  

“In the short term, we are currently in the works of planning our O-week stall, as well as creating Australia's first-ever intervarsity Valorant tournament,” Oskar says. “In the long term, my main goal is to expand the club, not only in just the number of active members we have but also the club's reach as a whole, by putting more focus towards our social media as well as our representative teams.”