by
Jason parker
in college eSports | December 9, 2020
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Tespa is the North American university partner of Activision-Blizzard’s esports system, and today we have sad news. According to a statement on company website, the collegiate organization “will retire the Tespa brand” and “will change our brand to focus more on the game franchises that our players are most excited about.” Tespa has done a lot for the college scene as a support system, so we are very sad to see them go.
Tespa really exploded in 2013, when they had a major national expansion. Since then, they were a form of support for many universities that were trying to get into gaming / esports. The biggest move for them had to be the 2014 partnership with Blizzard. Many esports came to life at the college level thanks to this partnership. Unfortunately, Tespa is reportedly closing down.
Don’t worry though, there will still be college esports for Activision-Blizzard games; just not under Tespa. There are programs for Overwatch, Hearthstone, and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. This will still hurt quite a few colleges as all Tespa “Chapter Program” clubs are likely to be closing.
The spread of COVID-19 probably has a lot to do with this decision. Or at least, it has to be at least partially the cause. Many of the face-to-face college events were either delayed or canceled entirely to be safe. This document supposedly says:
“With the rapid number of changes that have been in place this year, we have taken the time to reflect and plan how we want our college programs to grow in the future.
“The Tespa name and brand have been with us from the beginning, and while we are moving away from this brand, we are excited about the opportunity to further integrate with our gaming franchises.”
Tespa’s announcement that they are closing is heartbreaking. The Discord community will likely be closing down and they will share highlights and milestones on their Twitter starting today. We will miss all the events and the work they did to help the college level esports community. We can only hope they resurface when the time is right. But for now, we thank Tespa.
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