The University of Utah is home to a top-ranked video game program that has helped the state's growth and innovation in the industry.
Utah's video game industry reportedly surged more than 230% in the last decade and has brought in over $2.3 billion in revenue just last year. Graduates of University of Utah also help create top-grossing games, including Hogwarts Legacy and Fortnite.
University of Utah's Video Game Program
All of these factors combine to strengthen the state's reputation as a gaming hub through strong connections with various local video game studios.
The market in Utah is only continuing to grow and is estimated to reach $4.5 billion in economic contribution within the next five years.
One of the key drivers of this explosive growth is the University of Utah's cutting-edge video game program. The school immerses students in studying video games.
This includes letting them play and create their own. This has been fueling an industry that has deep roots at the university itself, according to CNBC.
The university also has a legacy of graduates that include high-profile names in the video game industry, such as president of Nintendo of America Doug Bowser and founder of Atari and creator of Pong, Nolan Bushnell.
Many of the school's alumni have gone on to have a career in the video game industry and helped to create games that have generated more than $2 billion in lifetime revenue.
Chair of the University of Utah's division of games Michael Young said that a lot of the school's graduates were pivotal in the games industry.
Helping the State's Local Growth and Innovation
The University of Utah's gaming initiative started out modestly within the school's computer science department. Young added that it has since become a formalized program that saw the birth of many industry veterans, NBC Los Angeles said.
A group of students in 2008 proposed the creation of a dedicated gaming area of study that quickly gained traction.
The Entertainment Arts and Engineering Program (EAE) was established two years later. It had a structured curriculum that had a dedicated focus on gaming and interactive entertainment.
The EAE program launched a bachelor's degree in gaming in 2017, which was a major step in its development. Four years later, it had become the University of Utah's 10th-largest major and attracted roughly 1,200 undergraduates annually.
The school's top-ranked video game program lets students develop every aspect of games from initial pitches to their launch. Young likened this process to the opening night of a theatrical production, according to Deseret.
