After finals week had ended, over 200 college students joined in on the first-ever UC Esports Holiday Invitational. The 2020 UC Esports Holiday Invitational is a premiere multigame collegiate esports tournament that connected student-athletes and gaming communities across the nine universities in the UC system. Xfinity was the tournament’s title sponsor of the four-day event.
“As a longtime supporter of the gaming community, Xfinity is thrilled to partner with the University of California to hold this unprecedented virtual esports tournament at a time when unity and a sense of community are so needed for students,” said Mark Cruz, director of brand partnerships for Xfinity at Comcast. “Whether they’re streaming NASCAR, the Olympics or the NFL, or relying on a gamer-grade internet connection for esports, Xfinity brings fans closer to the passions they love by delivering the fastest speeds on the nation’s largest gig-speed network.”
Teams competed in Overwatch, League of Legends and Valorant for top prizes and to bring pride to their school. Those that won first place in each of the games were awarded $1,000 in prizing that was split between the teams and the cash prize will be deposited into the student’s bursar account.
Students got to hear from Jacob “Jake” Lyons and Andrew “ZP” Rush, who currently work together as Overwatch League casting partners and have great chemistry and industry recognition – making them a natural fit to serve as both panel and casting talent for the UC Esports Holiday Invitational.
To kick off the four-day tournament, Xfinity hosted a panel discussion featuring Jake, Andrew, Cathy Ge, UCLA Esports Director and Kathy Chiang, UCI Esports Director, for a conversation around the impact of the pandemic on esports at the professional collegiate levels in addition to how it will shape the future of the industry.
Jake and Andrew also casted and commentated on the Overwatch matches held on the last two days of the tournament.
Half of Xfinity’s sponsorship fee was donated to each of the participating UC gaming programs in addition to providing a competitive landscape for teams and individuals to showcase their hard work and talent.
The UC Esports Holiday Invitational streamed about 33 hours over the four days of the tournament, experience part of the tournament for yourself and find out who took the first-place home!