Xfinity’s Popular ‘Run it Back’ Esports Tournament Returns for Round Four

Rocket-powered vehicles, superhero duels and battling fantastical champions will grab the spotlight Nov. 8 when Xfinity’s fourth annual “Run it Back” esports tournament returns to the University of Washington.

The annual collegiate tournament, hosted at UW’s HUB Esports Arena & Gaming Lounge, draws gamers from eight different schools, including the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, UW, Seattle University, New Mexico State University, University of California Davis and Berkley, and University of New Mexico. This year, teams will compete in in Rocket League,  VALORANT and League of Legends, three of the most popular titles in the competitive gaming landscape.

“This is the only tournament of its kind that I have seen where a major sponsor of esports and gaming initiatives is participating directly in the collegiate esports ecosystem where they see the value in connecting collegiate students with everything that eSports can do for people,” said Glen Tokola, esports manager for UW. “It’s exciting because they actually put some real support behind it.”

The tournament kicks off at noon at the HUB, though competitors from around the region will compete remotely. The entire tournament will be broadcast live via Twitch and YouTube, hosted by Raidiant.gg. Comcast’s sponsorship of the tournament includes high-speed internet access, prizes, food, fees to game title companies and more.

More than a game

In addition to the exciting competition that’s part of tournaments like Run it Back, collegiate gaming programs also offer a place for students to find social connections, a sense of community and paths into careers in fields such as video game design, esports, computer engineering, marketing and others.

“I met a lot of my friends through this club. I joined my freshman year and it’s a pretty enjoyable environment,” said Takuma Kainuma, who’s part of the Esports and Gaming Club at Seattle University. “It’s pretty easy to find people who like the same game as you, or even if they don’t like the same game as you, it’s always fun to talk to other people who like a different genre of games. It’s always fun to talk about that kind of stuff with other people. And it’s easy to get closer with people who like the same thing as you.”

Billy Katsigiannis is the Esports Program Director at the University of Oregon. He said the program is driven by “the three Cs: competition, community and career.”

Beyond the gaming aspect of the program, there are regular social events – in both physical and digital spaces – as well as tangible connections to various career paths in areas like broadcasting, media, marketing and others. U of O’s School of Journalism and Communications even offers a Game Studies minor for students interested in pursuing a career in the field.

Katsigiannis said he knows gaming at U of O doesn’t quite have the draw that a Ducks’ football game might, but he’s hoping to build the same kind of culture and community around it, in part through competitions like the Run it Back tournament.

“We’re not getting a stadium every weekend filled with 60,000 people. That’s not happening,” he said. “But a football game is a cultural event, and there’s a community being built around that, and that’s what we’re trying to do. So we really want esports to focus on that community aspect because that feeds directly into the competition that gets people to care.”