{"id":107242,"date":"2020-03-03T20:00:45","date_gmt":"2020-03-04T01:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=107242"},"modified":"2020-03-05T19:46:17","modified_gmt":"2020-03-06T00:46:17","slug":"ucf-named-no-1-graduate-school-for-video-game-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-named-no-1-graduate-school-for-video-game-design\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF Named No. 1 Graduate School for Video Game Design"},"content":{"rendered":"

UCF\u2019s graduate game design program<\/a> is No. 1 in North America, according to The Princeton Review and PC Gamer<\/em> magazine, which today announced their 2020 rankings.<\/p>\n

This is the second time in the past five years that UCF\u2019s interactive entertainment graduate program at the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy has taken the top spot. UCF\u2019s undergraduate program in game design<\/a> also ranked highly at No. 14.<\/p>\n

Both programs are both located at UCF Downtown, where approximately 130 graduate and 770 undergraduate students learn the tools and techniques to be artists, programmers and producers in the gaming industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur students are primed and ready to work well before they leave our labs and classrooms,\u201d says Ben Noel, FIEA\u2019s executive director. \u201cWe teach the most advanced game-design skills, but we also provide the skills employers want in terms of problem solving, teamwork and project management.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of the graduate program, students must either complete an internship or take a course that prepares them to start their own companies. FIEA, now celebrating its 15th year, has over 700 graduates working at over 230 entities around the world. Upon graduation, student entrepreneurs can also choose to develop their own business plans from FIEA Venture, a digital media business incubator on campus.<\/p>\n

Gaming has become a $130 billion industry. According to WalletHub, Orlando is the fourth best city in the country for gamers, in part due to its developer opportunities. Game-design companies EA Sports and Iron Galaxy studios are based in Orlando, and regional leaders are focusing on attracting more esports tournaments to the area.<\/p>\n

Access to the talent provided through UCF\u2019s programs is one of the key reasons EA Sports announced it will relocate from Maitland to the Creative Village in downtown Orlando in 2021. There are more than 100 UCF graduates currently working in EA Tiburon\u2019s office in Maitland and dozens more FIEA graduates at other EA Worldwide Studios.<\/p>\n

\u201cFIEA is a major source of talent for our EA Sports development studio in Orlando, resulting in one of every two new graduates hired over the last 2 years,\u201d says EA Sports vice president Daryl Holt.<\/p>\n

\u201cUCF Downtown has quickly become a hotbed for media and innovation,\u201d says Robert Littlefield, director of UCF\u2019s Nicholson School of Communication and Media. \u201cWe\u2019re an anchor to Orlando\u2019s Creative Village and our students are experiencing the benefits of being immersed with some of the industry\u2019s top players in the rapidly growing game-technology sector.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a tribute to all at UCF who have played a leadership role in the program\u2019s continuing growth and transformational UCF Downtown campus. To all involved, including the program\u2019s dedicated faculty, researchers and students who contribute so much to game design and to the Orlando community, we join in the praise,\u201d says Rob Franek, editor-in-chief of The Princeton Review.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Princeton Review and PC Gamer<\/em> magazine continue to rank UCF\u2019s undergraduate and graduate programs among the best in the nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":107245,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[17023,1317,1765,6221,3393,3882,12851],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-107242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-colleges","tag-college-of-arts-and-humanities","tag-digital-media","tag-florida-interactive-entertainment-academy","tag-interactive-entertainment","tag-nicholson-school-of-communication-and-media","tag-rankings","tag-ucf-downtown"],"yoast_head":"\nUCF Named No. 1 Graduate School for Video Game Design | University of Central Florida News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Princeton Review and PC Gamer magazine continue to rank UCF\u2019s undergraduate and graduate programs among the best in the nation.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-named-no-1-graduate-school-for-video-game-design\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UCF Named No. 1 Graduate School for Video Game Design\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Princeton Review and PC Gamer magazine continue to rank UCF\u2019s undergraduate and graduate programs among the best in the nation.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-named-no-1-graduate-school-for-video-game-design\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-04T01:00:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-03-06T00:46:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2020\/03\/ucf-fiea-mo-cap-space.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Laura J. 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