The following is a press release provided to InvenGlobal and has been published verbatim.

State University of New York at Canton will be adding two new teams to its esports lineup for the Fall 2019 semester. Students will play Rocket League as part of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) which has more than 50 member schools. The Rainbow Six Siege team will play in the Collegiate R6 conference.

SUNY Canton Esports launched in Spring 2018 with approximately 17 students actively playing in three games: Overwatch and Hearthstone by Blizzard; and League of Legends by Riot Games. The following semester, SUNY Canton Esports adopted Fortnite by Epic Games and "FIFA" by EA Games. In Spring 2019, the program added Super Smash Bros. Ultimate by Nintendo.

Esports Coordinator Charles Murray said the college received significant student interest for developing squads in "Rocket League" by Psyonix and "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege" by Ubisoft."Rocket League is a wildly popular soccer-style game played with rocket-powered cars," Murray said. "Rainbow Six Siege is a more tactical first-person shooter video game that relies heavily on teamwork and solid communication. Both games are tremendously fun."

Game Design and Development continues to grow alongside of esports and has become the fastest growing major at the college. In 2018, 78 full-time students enrolled in the program. This year, approximately 114 new students began classes. "We're anticipating about 100 new gamers in Fall 2019," Murray said. "We will be expanding team sections to accommodate the influx of students."

Director of Athletics Randy B. Sieminski outlined further future plans for the esports program at SUNY Canton. "In addition to adding new games, our next steps will include adding more all-women's teams, and creating new academic programs to prepare students for the competitive video gaming industry."

Open tryouts for students will be held at the beginning next week for both Rocket League and Rainbow Six Siege teams. Online students should contact Murray at murrayc@canton.edu for participation information.