As digital transformation reshapes education, work, and social life, the role of esports has expanded beyond entertainment and professional competition. A rapidly emerging domain within this evolution is academic esports, a structured, research-informed, and pedagogically motivated use of esports environments to cultivate competencies relevant to both learning and life in digital society often referred to as transferable skills. Despite its growing relevance, academic esports remain conceptually ambiguous, often conflated with recreational gaming or competitive esports. This lack of conceptual clarity inhibits its institutional integration, pedagogical deployment, and scholarly exploration.

This paper proposes a working definition of academic esports as the intentional and organized use of competitive video game environments within educational or research frameworks to foster specific learning outcomes, competencies, and social impact. Unlike recreational gaming, which prioritizes entertainment, or traditional esports, which centers on performance and competition, academic esports foregrounds learning. It leverages the structured dynamics of esports, teamwork, strategic thinking, feedback loops, digital communication, and real-time decision-making, not as ends in themselves, but as scaffolds for developing transferable skills such as digital literacy, intercultural communication, resilience, and ethical reflection.

Academic esports is characterized by five core dimensions:
(1) its educational intent, embedding play within pedagogical or curricular structures;
(2) its competency orientation, targeting digital-era capabilities such as collaboration in virtual environments or critical digital literacy;
(3) its research utility, serving as a living lab for studying learning, identity, motivation, and socio-technical systems;
(4) its inclusivity focus, offering engagement opportunities for diverse and often underrepresented learners; and
(5) its institutional adaptability, allowing integration across levels, from primary to higher education, and across disciplines.

Drawing on current initiatives and national strategies, including the Norwegian Esports Summit and regional inclusive talent development programs, this paper outlines a future research agenda built around four key priorities:
(1) clarifying the epistemological boundaries between esports, gaming, and academic esports;
(2) empirically investigating its impact on digital and global competencies;
(3) designing frameworks for social inclusion and workforce readiness through academic esports; and
(4) developing policy and infrastructure for sustainable academic integration.

By defining the field and setting a clear research trajectory, this contribution aims to elevate academic esports from a promising concept to a robust interdisciplinary domain. It invites educators, researchers, and policymakers to collaborate in shaping a future where competitive play and meaningful learning coexist, advancing digital inclusion and educational transformation.

Keywords: Education, development, academic esports, transferable skills, strategic thinking, intercultural communication.