When you think of the BSL, you immediately think of Ephec, PXL, AES-ULB, AGEM… but not of Howest. This bothers them. They want to change that as soon as possible and make Howest a real competitor, fighting for the BSL championship in all the competitions.

In recent years, Howest has become tremendously known internationally for its innovative degree program: ‘Bachelor Digital Arts and Entertainment (DAE)’. In both 2018 and 2019, Howest DAE was voted the best Game Design & Development School – loosely translated: the best gaming degree program in the world. This is no coincidence. Gaming is clearly in Kortrijk’s blood, but what about the competitive part?

The First FIFA Steps

This year, Howest is sending a competitor to the FIFA competition for the first time. Rogue44OPJ is their first step in this new game and it shows. The BSL FIFA competition is an extremely tough and competitive enviroment, with some professional powerhouses like Uliks, Jonas_DC, EminoMercy, Bram_VD and many others. Rogue is in group A and unfortunately is at the bottom after week 6 with 0 points. We hope he can get a win under his belt soon and get rid of that ugly zero.

The Underdogs

The Rocket League competition is back this year and Howest took of running! They are currently in a very good third place with 5 matches won and 1 lost in a very strong group with VUB_Gaming and UCLL_Gaming. Howest RL is a bit of an underdog in this group, which we think can still improve. Maybe this team will be the first team from Howest to reach the finals, but then they will have a tough road ahead of them, because with teams like AES-ULB, UGent and PXL still in the other group, this competition is definitely no walk in the park!

We had a small talk with the captain of the team, Thomas Lokere: “I was very busy putting together a team a few weeks before this BSL season. Besides that, I also work for the University Rocketereers organization, which organizes Rocket League tournaments all over Europe. My vision for this year is mainly to make esports more known in and around Howest. So far there has not really been much awareness of esports, but we are currently working in collaboration with Howest to give the community the opportunity to grow online by taking various actions as they are approved. Our goal, of course, is to grow in esports by winning awards and making the team more stable in terms of recruitment, but that was not possible until this season because there just was not much attention.”

We love this kind of engagement from students, and we can’t wait to see where this ambition will take them!

Howestenaren on a mission

Last year Howest had a very strong League of Legends team, but just not strong enough. During the season they won several times against real powerhouses like PXL, which granted them a precious spot in the playoffs and even a fourth place. This year, the ‘Howestenaren op een missie 2.0’ want even more. Currently, the team of Lars Smet (ChainedUp) shares third place in the group of death. At the top of the group are the experienced Owls from AES-ULB and CEFUC, so third place is definitely not bad. We wish them every success on their mission in any case!

The Future

We think Howest has a very bright future ahead of them! With innovating study courses and upcoming gaming talent, we think they will become a big player in all the different competitions. Howest is not the biggest school with the most students, but they got something. Is it a passion for gaming and esports, is it their competitiveness…, we don’t know, but what we know is that Howest is here to stay. Not only to stay, but here to win!