The Department was established in 2018 under the original name Bachelor’s Degree Program in Esports Industry Management, becoming the first four-year bachelor’s degree program in Taiwan approved by the Ministry of Education with a primary focus on the esports industry. In 2022, the program was officially renamed the Department of Esports and Computer Entertainment Science, abbreviated as the Esports Department, enrolling one four-year undergraduate class each year.

Guided by Shu-Te University’s motto of “Scholarship, Intelligence, Happiness, and Hope,” the Department is dedicated to cultivating talent for the digital innovation economy who possess innovation capability, aesthetic sensibility, and technological literacy. The curriculum emphasizes building a solid foundation in aesthetics, creativity, intellectual property law, governance, and ethics within digital design environments. Students are also encouraged to stay informed about current issues, understand the impact of the digital economy on the environment, socio-economic development, and global trends, and develop habits and capabilities for lifelong learning, enabling them to enter the job market promptly upon graduation.

In response to the development trends of esports, the Sports Industry Development Act was amended and promulgated by the President on November 29, 2017, redefining the scope of the sports industry and officially incorporating the esports industry as a recognized sector. This revision reflects the growing domestic and international recognition of esports as one of the most distinctive emerging industries within the digital innovation economy. In 2016, Kaohsiung City Bureau of Education Director Fan Sun-Lu took the lead in positioning Kaohsiung as Taiwan’s esports hub, facilitating industry–government–academia collaboration agreements among Shu-Te University, the Chinese Taipei Esports Association, I-Shou University, and Lizhi Senior High School. Kaohsiung City further promotes esports development through educational integration, connecting vocational high schools, universities, and technical colleges, establishing esports competitions, player training programs, and logistics operation internship facilities, with the goal of making Kaohsiung a key global center for the esports industry.

Esports-related activities and participation have been growing rapidly worldwide. By 2025, esports has been officially included in the Asian Games and Olympic events, with more than forty countries recognizing esports as an official sport. Among them, South Korea and Mainland China regard esports as a core component of industrial development. The esports industry not only drives rapid growth in information hardware sectors, but also injects vitality into software and e-commerce industries. Taking South Korea as an example, the game industry generated revenues of NT$296 billion in 2015. A key strategy was the enactment of the Esports Promotion Act in 2011, which positioned esports development as a primary means of advancing the video game industry. The business opportunities and technological innovations driven by esports are entering a stage of explosive growth, closely aligned with the Department’s professional focus and promising future prospects.

In the 2022, the Department was officially approved by the Ministry of Education to transition from a degree program to a full department, achieving the highest five-year teaching quality assurance rating by the Taiwan Assessment and Evaluation Association. Concurrently, the Computer Entertainment Science Module curriculum was structured around two major academic tracks—Esports and Computer Entertainment Science—with the objective of cultivating students’ competencies in esports, new media production, and computer entertainment science.

The esports industry value chain can be divided into upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors. The upstream focuses on game development, the midstream on event organization and operations, and the downstream on event dissemination and the promotion of esports culture and intelligent business entertainment. Each segment has distinct professional characteristics, requiring different curricular emphases. To achieve the overarching goal of cultivating talent for the digital innovation economy, data from the 2020 Taiwan Cultural Content Industry Survey Report published by the Taiwan Creative Content Agency indicate that Taiwan’s game industry comprised 98 companies employing 9,047 workers, while the esports industry included 19 companies with 660 employees. Revenue figures show NT$40.25 million from esports teams and NT$241.66 million from esports events. Within the revenue structure, esports events rely primarily on corporate subsidies, while advertising and sponsorship also contribute significant income.