In an attempt to expand, the Esports Club is adding several new video game additions, as well as continuing with others. Some of the latest titles making their debut appearance to the club include “Madden,” “Street Fighter 6,” and chess, and older titles include “Splatoon,” “Rocket League,” “Hearthstone,” “Mario Kart,” and “Super Smash Bros.” 

“We added the new games to have more of an audience,” club secretary Derek Mondragon said. “If you’re strictly tied down to four or five games, that makes your club not very accessible to other people and their views and likes. ” 

Board members sent out a Google Form during freshman orientation to determine what games incoming students would be interested in playing.

“A lot of people recommended games that we didn’t already have,” president Ash Hsi said. “For example, not many ‘Splatoon’ players were there anymore. A lot of people wanted ‘Fortnite’ and other games and all of that stuff wasn’t in the leagues that we had. So, we had to go to different leagues.” 

The addition of new games also brings new obstacles for the board members.

“Logistically, it could be a little bit more work for the coaches to coordinate the matches, especially if there’s multiple games that play on the same day, but I think we’re up for the challenge,” Esports adviser Ronald Barranco said.

The club hopes by becoming more accessible long term, that more students will remain part of the club.

“I think it will bring a lot of much needed diversity,” vice president Nicolas Markwith said. “Especially [because in my] freshman year, it was only ‘Splatoon,’ and so a lot of people didn’t get the opportunity they wanted. Then the year after, we introduced a few more games, but it wasn’t enough to see a clear difference. I’m hoping that adding more options from the six or seven we had last year will invite a lot more people into esports as a whole.”